Who Will I Be
by teatat
Summary: Wilma's ability to command earth's defense squadron is compromised when she and Buck have to ensure Ardala makes it to an important peace conference. Wilma and Buck later join the crew of the Searcher but not for the reasons most people think. Will Wilma recover in time for her and Buck to save earth from a new threat?
1. Ch1-The Worst Laid Plans

A/N: It has long bothered me that Wilma's character is so different in season two. This story is in part an attempt to explain and resolve that. It begins some time after the end of season one and then continues with scenes that happen between the season two episodes and continues after season two ends.

* * *

Kane entered Ardala's quarters, "The Terran shuttle will be here shortly princess."

Ardala turned to face him. She was dressed one of her typical skimpy outfits with a cape and a large head-dress, "Patience Kane, we don't want to appear too eager, do we? Did they say who is aboard?"

"Captain Rogers is piloting the shuttle as you requested Princess," Ardala smiled and Kane continued, "and Colonel Deering."

Ardala frowned, "I suppose I should have been more specific. These peace talks are going to be tedious enough without having to endure the Colonel's company… You've verified that Buck's shuttle is unarmed?"

"Yes, as agreed, and it will be escorted by two of our fighter pilots and two of theirs."

"And our own unarmed shuttle is on the way to pick up Dr. Huer and Dr. Theopolis?"

"It will arrive at the same time the Terran ship boards the Draconia."

Ardala rolled her eyes, "It all seems so unnecessarily cumbersome. I don't see why we couldn't meet aboard my ship or even on earth rather than all transporting each other to this ridicules planet in the middle of nowhere."

"The Terran's are much more careful than they use to be. They are also in a more powerful position. They've formed strong alliances and the intergalactic council…"

"Yes, yes, I didn't ask for a lecture in intergalactic politics! I'm well aware how financially inconvenient a war in this quadrant would be for my father right now!"

"I still think you should have insisted that Panther-man accompany you Princess."

She gave him a seductive smile, "You'll be with me Kane. Surely you don't doubt your ability to protect me?"

"Certainly not! I simply…"

"I didn't think so. Anyway, I want you by my side."

Kane looked surprised, "You do?"

"Of course I do, I wouldn't _dream_ of leaving you in charge of the Draconia behind my back, and these peace talks will be deadly dull if I have to endure them so do you!"

* * *

Wilma glanced at Buck as their shuttle approached the Draconia, "If the peace talks are anything like the arrangements for this meeting we'll end up with a treaty that makes things as inconvenient as possible for all of us!"

"I just wish we were flying escort in the star fighters." Buck answered.

"I'm with you. I never should have agreed to this arrangement. Dr. Huer's always been too casual when it comes to his own safety."

"He didn't give you much choice."

Wilma nodded with a frown and Buck continued, "I know you're worried about him and Theo but it makes sense that he didn't want the three of you in the same place. They'll be OK, Wilma, you have Landers and Danton flying escort for them, they're two your best people."

Wilma looked pointedly at Buck, "Not _the_ best."

Buck grinned, "Careful Colonel you wouldn't want to give me a swelled head."

Wilma didn't smile, "I've been over this a thousand times. These arrangements _seem_ to make the Draconians as vulnerable as they do us."

"But you don't trust them. You think they maneuvered earth into these arrangements for a reason?"

"Trusting the Draconians isn't a mistake I'll make twice… I can't help but wonder if Ardala requested you pilot her shuttle to ensure you _wouldn't_ be flying a fighter."

"Maybe she just wants the pleasure of my company."

Wilma looked at Buck sharply, "Is that supposed to reassure me?"

Buck smiled, "Well, we haven't had any trouble with Ardala since we got back from Pendar. What's it been over a year now?"

"Almost two."

"Time flies when you aren't fighting the Draconians."

"Our intelligence reports say the Draconians are having trouble with insurrections in their own empire. It's seems likely Draco doesn't want to commit any resources to this quadrant."

"But you're still worried."

"It is Ardala. And, earth has come a long way these last couple of years, but if Draco were to commit significant resources to fighting us we could lose everything we've gained."

"We've out-foxed the Draconians before. We can do it again if we have to."

"Yes, but in all three cases it was largely because _you_ managed to sabotage Ardala's plans. Eventually she's going to decide it's a bad idea to let you aboard, Buck, no matter how fond she might be of you."

Buck smiled at this but Wilma didn't. The two of them rode in silence for a while until Wilma said, "Coming up on final approach to the Draconia."

"Let's hope Ardala is ready to play nice."

* * *

Kane sat in the co-pilot seat next to Buck. Ardala and Wilma sat next to each other neither of them looked happy.

Ardala leaned forward and smiled at Buck, "Buck… when I suggested Kane be allowed to co-pilot your shuttle I was hoping it would give _us_ a chance to catch up."

Wilma answered before Buck could, "Our agreement with you was that Captain Rodgers would pilot your shuttle. We wouldn't want to go back on our word before the peace talks even start."

Ardala seethed and Kane almost looked as if he might smile.

Buck was about to speak when ten ships showed up on his monitor. He flicked a switch opening communications to both sets of star fighters, "Look alive everyone. We've got company!"

Kane adjusted some dials on the communication equipment, "Attention alien vessels identify your selves!"

The lead ship fired at them. Buck maneuvered out of the way. Wilma and Kane shouted simultaneously to their star fighters:

"Take evasive action and return fire!"

"Return fire and take evasive action!"

Their escorts all fired and so did the enemy ships. One of the unidentified ships was hit and exploded. One of earth ships was also hit and spun away out of control."

Buck, Wilma and Kane all moved as if to fire at the enemy ships before catching themselves and realizing their ship didn't have weapons. Another of the enemy ships went down.

Wilma tried to contact the pilot in the earth fighter, "Norris how bad is you damage! ...Major Norris can you respond!? NORRIS!"

At the same time Kane tried again to contact the enemy ships, "You are attaching Draconian ships on a peaceful mission cease fire immediately or be destroyed!"

Even in the midst of battle Buck seemed to find this statement amusing but he lost his smirk as he performed more evasive maneuvers.

One of the draconian star fighters exploded from a direct hit. Kane shouted again, "Cease fire immediately or be destroyed!"

Another of the enemy ships when down. The remaining Draconian fighter was hit and exploded, the remaining earth fighter exploded a few moments afterward.

The unidentified ships stopped firing, and surrounded the shuttle.

Buck pulled on the throttle, "Our only chance is to out fly…"

A green beam came from each of the remaining ships and engulfed the shuttle.

The lights on the consul went dead; Buck flicked switches and pounded buttons, "They've got us in some kind of tractor beam nothing's responding."

Kane was also trying to get systems to respond.

Ardala looked annoyed, "Kain! Contact the Draconia for help!"

"Communication systems aren't responding either!"

The communications came back on line with an incoming message, "Attention Terrain vessel! You are transporting a Draconian princess. We will take you to our base and relive you of your cargo. We have no argument with the Terrains. Cooperate and you will live. Resist and you will be destroyed."

Ardala looked furious, "Cargo!?"

The communication systems went dead.


	2. Ch2- Goodbye Princess

Kane slammed his fist against the console, "A Terran trap!"

Wilma answered him angrily, "Our star fighters were destroyed as well as yours!"

"To make it look authentic!"

"We wouldn't kill our own people as a cover! That's the kind of thing _Draconians_ would do!"

Ardala looked furious, "I'd _hardly_ have implemented a plan that required me to be under fire!"

"Those ships where firing destroy the fighters not the shuttle!"

"Even so…"

Buck interrupted, "Are we going to argue or are we going to try to figure a way out of this mess?"

The three others stared at him angrily. Buck continued, "Look we don't trust you any more than you trust us, but if it _wasn't_ one of our sides that did this we are in a lot of trouble and we aren't going to get out of it unless we work together. …We did it on Pendar didn't we?"

When no one responded Buck continued, "Ardala earth can't afford a war with the Draconians. Your own spies must be telling you that. We have nothing to gain by kidnapping you."

Ardala softened, "You make a good point Buck. But I'm afraid it doesn't much matter whether _I_ believe you or not. These…whoever they are… seem to have us helpless and if I don't show up for the peace talks my father will assume the worst. I was, after all, under Terran protection."

They all looked at Ardala in surprise.

Wilma was the first to respond, "Ardala's right, and once they take us through the star gate we'll be untraceable. If we don't want a war, we need to find a way to get her to the peace talks."

Buck looked at Kane, "Do you have any idea who they could be?"

"They're unmarked ships. If for the sake of argument I were to agree they aren't disguised Tirans…" Buck rolled his eyes as Kane continued, "…none of them have the same model, my best guess would be pirates."

"And what would they want with the Princess?"

"Most likely ransom, it's an awfully risky move for Pirates though; they could be some kind of political group."

Wilma had turned to listen to this, now she turned back to Ardala, "Princess you have 29 sisters?"

"Thirty two now, actually, my father's been busy..._why_?"

"The pirates, or whoever they are, didn't mention you by name. They only said 'a Draconian princess' it's possible they don't know who _exactly_ they are kidnapping."

Understanding dawned on Kane's face, "That's too risky it would never work!"

Wilma answered, "All the risk is on our part, if we can believe them they are willing to let _us_ go and if it fails you'll be no worse off."

Aradala looked confused, "If what fails?"

Kane ignored her, "And you expect us to trust…?"

"Unless you have a better plan you don't have much choice commander!"

Buck interrupted, "Wilma, I hate to agree with Kane but it's too risky! Even if it worked once Ardala showed up at the peace conference..."

Ardala started to ask, "Buck what are you…"

But Wilma cut her off, "Exactly! It only needs to work long enough for you to get Ardala to safety."

Buck shook his head, "We'll think of something else!"

"What? We're outnumbered and we have no weapons! If my plan doesn't work we'll _have_ think of something else but it's our best chance to get Ardala away safely."

When Buck didn't respond she asked, "Do I need to make this an order?"

Buck answered in a quiet icy voice, "I never joined the Defense Directorate officially Colonel. Do you really want to test weather I'll follow your orders?"

Wilma's reply was calm but firm, "Buck, you know I'm right. Our priority is to get Ardala to the conference. So, unless either of you has a better idea I suggest you both face forward… we may not have much time."

Kane and Buck both stared at her angrily for a few moments before facing forward still scowling. Wilma turned to Ardala to explain.

* * *

The shuttle sat in a shuttle bay surrounded by enemy ships.

Buck was bent over searching frantically through a compartment, "Found 'em!"

He sat up just as the hatch was forced open and three men and a woman entered from the back of the shuttle. They were heavily armed but they didn't dress without any kind of uniformity.

Buck and Kane turned to face them but Wilma and Ardala continued to face forward. One of them gripped Ardala's shoulder roughly, "You will come with us!"

She turned, it was Wilma wearing Ardala's outfit, "How _DARE_ you lay hand's on a draconian princess!?" The man stepped back. Wilma lifted her chin and walked out of the shuttle on her own. The others followed with the armed people covering them from behind.

Ardala kept her arms crossed hiding the fact that Wilma's uniform was too tight across her chest. She moved next to Buck and whispered, "I don't sound anything like that!"

"SHHhhh!"

Kane quickly hid a smirk.

Once they were all out of the shuttle more men and women surrounded them. They were all armed. One of the women stepped forward; she was dressed in leather and wore several weapons. She spoke to Buck and Ardala, "Terrans we will tow you back through the star gate and then restore your power. In return you will deliver our terms to the Draconians."

Buck answered angrily, "Look it's my job to deliver the Princess safely to an important conference. If I don't get her there the Draconians will never believe…"

"Then you'll need to be persuasive won't you? I suppose you need to decide which is more important your job or your life." The others all raised their weapons a little higher.

"At least give me some reassurance that the Princess won't be harmed!"

The woman gave a brief laugh, "What like my honor as a criminal? You don't really think we are going to tell you any part of our plans do you?"

Ardala faced Buck, "We don't owe these Draconians anything! We should save ourselves!" Her delivery was overly dramatic but no but Buck seemed to notice.

"Very wise." The woman told her.

Buck signed, "Ok, we'll deliver your message."

Wilma spoke in a haughty tone of voice, "Let my commander go as well! You have _me_ you don't need anyone else and he can verify the Terran's story."

Kane bristled, "Are you _testing_ me again Princess? You _know_ I would never leave you like that!"

"Kane you duty is to…"

Kane stared pointedly at Wilma, "My _duty_ is to stay be the side of my _Princess_, as you well know _your highness_!"

Buck filled in the awkward moment by speaking to the woman who seemed to be in charge, "Look we don't need to take up any more of your time. Why don't you restore our power now and give us the star gate coordinates, then we can get out of your way."

She sneered, "How very considerate. But of course that would allow you to find your way back, wouldn't it?"

"Would it?"

"How stupid do you think we are? Enough of this! It's time for the two of you to go!" She turned to four of her people. "You four take the Draconians to their cell while the rest of us say goodbye to our guests."

Buck turned to Wilma, "It looks like this is goodbye princess." He took her hand and kissed it. As he bent over her hand he quickly snapped a band around her wrist. It had the same type of RDF unit he had used to track her on Vistula. "

Buck looked into Wilma's eyes, "Take care of yourself Princess."


	3. Ch3-Trust

Wilma and Kane were escorted down a large hallway, stacked with crates and a lot of expensive technological equipment, to a small cell which contained a single cot. As they entered Wilma took a brief look around, "Certainly this isn't the best you can do?!"

One of their guards turned on the force field and answered sarcastically, "It's only temporary Princess, until we get the castle finished."

"When my father hears how I've been treated…" she shouted at their retreating backs.

Once they were out of earshot Kane hissed, "You'll have to do better than _that_ if you want to give Rogers time to make it to the star gate!"

Wilma looked slightly offended, "What do you mean?"

"For a start that stunt you pulled about letting me go."

"I was _trying_ to save your life commander!"

"_Exactly_ Ardala would never put me first like that!"

Wilma looked surprised but only answered, "I see… But if they don't know what she looks like surely they wouldn't have details like…"

"I couldn't take that chance! We both did what we had to Colonel."

"Of course. What else do I need to do differently?"

"You need to be more alluring."

"What?"

"Ardala is sensual, every word she says every movement is like a promise, one you know she won't keep but there's just enough of a hint that she will to keep you…"

Kane noticed that Wilma was looking at him oddly and broke off, "Never mind, it's probably not something you can learn." He noticed her wrist band and pointed at it angrily, "And what's that? It doesn't match your outfit!"

Wilma looked thoughtfully at her wristband. "No," she glanced at her outfit," and it's not like I can hide anything..." she removed it and handed it to Kane. "You'll have to wear it. If we find out Ardala is safe you can activate the RDF, but you'll need to keep it on, it runs on body heat."

"You think Rogers will use this to find you?"

"If he can get close enough to pick up the signal; yes."

"So that's your whole plan? Dress up like a Princess and wait to be rescued?"

"Of course not! I don't have… I mean this is as far as I've gotten… we didn't exactly have time for a strategy session. At any rate we can't do anything until we know Ardala is safe."

"And then?"

"And then we look for an opportunity."

Kane answered half to himself "So we need to stay alive until we find an _opportunity_."

"I thought that was a given."

Kane held the wristband for a moment staring at it, "You trust me?"

"Not for a moment Commander but I have no choice."

* * *

Buck and Ardala sat in the shuttle. Buck glanced at his wristband several times.

Ardala squirmed in the tight uniform, "I don't see how she can wear this thing it's so confining!"

Buck glanced at her but didn't respond.

"Buck, are you angry? It wasn't _my_ idea for Colonel Deering to impersonate me."

"No, of course not."

He looked again at is wristband.

"Buck, what is that?"

"I was hoping to be able to use it to track Wilma but either we're out of range or she hasn't activated hers." He continued half to himself, "Maybe she's afraid they'll pick up the signal. It would be like Wilma to wait until she knows we're safe."

"Buck you aren't planning on going back?!"

"I'll need to find some way of getting the coordinates first."

"Buck, don't be silly! I can simply send my forces to destroy their base!"

"With Kane and Wilma down there?! They'd be killed!"

"Kane can take care of himself. I'm sure Wilma can too. She doesn't strike me as the kind of woman that needs rescuing."

"Princess, the best thing you can do right now is to do everything possible to make sure the treaty get's settled fairly. Otherwise what Kane and Wilma did was for nothing."

"You are angry."

"No, I'm just worried about Colonel Deering, just like you're worried about Kane."

When Ardala didn't answer Buck looked at her sharply, "You _are_ worried about Kane aren't you?!"

"Buck, I'm a draconian princess, I wouldn't have lasted as long as I have in my position if I worried about my subordinates."

"I see."

They both sat in silence for a while, until Ardala blurted, "Of _course_ I'm worried about him!"

Buck patted her arm reassuringly.

* * *

The woman, who had spoken with them earlier, entered the cell while guards covered Wilma and Kane with laser pistols. She walked up to Wilma and slapped her hard across the face.

Wilma glowered at her, "How dare you…!"

"Lay hands on a Draconian princess? You _interfering_ witch! We've received word that the princess arrived safely at the peace conference!"

"Is this some kind of a trick?! I'm…"

She raised a laser pistol to Wilma's forehead, "_You_ are a _dead_ terran."

Kane spat out the words, "Fool! If you kill her you get nothing!"

The woman glanced at Kane, "What makes you think we aren't going to kill both of you? Still…"

She ran her eyes up and down Wilma's body and addressed the people with her, "he does have a point. We still have some slave market contacts," She ripped off Wilma's headdress, lifted her chin and looked into her face, "she would bring a decent price."

Wilma jerked her head away angrily. The woman continued, "She'd need reconditioning."

One of the others in the group said excitedly, "We haven't found a buyer for that MRC probe yet, this would give is a chance to test it!"

Kane spoke again, "Earth would pay five times what you could get for her as a slave!"

The woman turned to Kane, "Earth doesn't negotiate for hostages. Everyone knows that."

"Even for…"

Wilma interrupted, "Kane be quite! Don't tell them anything!"

Kane looked at Wilma, "I'm afraid now that we know the princess is safe our alliance is over, _Colonel Deering._"

He turned back to the woman, "She's commander of the Earth's defense squadron and a personal friend of Dr. Huer he'd pay to get _her_ back regardless of Earth's policy."

The woman scoffed, "You expect us to believe the commander of the Earth's defense squadron would allow herself to be used as a decoy?"

Kane shrugged, "It's easy enough to check isn't' it?… Or perhaps it's not. If you knew how to check identities you wouldn't have taken the wrong hostage in the first place. Do you even know how to use half the technology you've stolen?"

Wilma looked at him angrily, "Kane if you think…"

The woman raised the pistol to her head again, "Shutup!"

She looked at Kane suspiciously, "Why _are_ you telling us this? If you're going to try to tell us the Draconians will pay to get you back…"

"Of course not! If I were to go back to the Draconians I'd be executed for deserting the princess. But there are plenty of others who would pay for my skills. I assume you have contacts."

"We _might_ but why would we help you?"

Kane gave her a silky smile, "For a ten percent finder's fee."

"HA! Sixty percent."

"Sixty?! That's…"

The woman grinned, "Piracy?"

"Twenty percent and I'll show you how to send an untraceable message to Dr. Huer with your ransom demand for the Colonel."

"Fifty! And we don't need you for that, we can do it ourselves."

"If you could you wouldn't have had the Terrans deliver your message. Thirty percent."

"Forty five _and_ you help us with the message _and_ we let you live."

"You make a convincing argument..."

"The name's Warra, cross me and you'll wish you'd never heard it!"

Kane sneered, "Please, I'm a _professional_ and I've worked with the Draconians for twelve years, your threats don't begin to compare."

Warra turned to the others, "It won't hurt to try for ransom, in the meantime let's get that MRC ready and we'll start the conditioning. That way if earth doesn't pay she'll be ready to sell."

Kane said, "Huer will only pay if he thinks she's unharmed."

"Then we won't _tell_ him."

"Of course."

Wilma looked furious but said nothing.


	4. Ch4- Reluctant Allies

Dr . Huer sat at a desk in the office he was using during the peace conference. The sun was beginning to set in the window behind him. Major Marla Landers and Major Duke Danton sat across from Dr. Huer. Dr. Theopolis was on the desk.

Buck entered, "Dr. Huer, I was told you wanted to see me."

"Yes, Buck, please sit down."

Duke bristled, "What's _he_ doing here?"

Dr. Huer answered calmly, "This concerns Captain Rogers as well, Major." He looked at Buck and continued, "We may have some information about Colonel Deering's location."

Buck sat, "Was Theo able to get any information from the shuttle?"

Dr. Theopolis answered him, "I'm afraid all I can determine is how long your systems were down, Buck, and the number of planets that could be reached within that time period, well, I'm afraid to try to locate Colonel Deering on one of them would be…"

Buck sighed, "Like looking for a needle in a haystack?"

"If I understand your reference, the task would be even more difficult."

Duke broke in angrily, "She wouldn't need locating if you hadn't left her!"

Buck scowled, "I didn't want to leave her! I didn't have a choice! Wilma _herself_ practically ordered me to do it!"

"Fine time you picked to start following orders!"

Buck was about to answer but Marla interrupted, "If you two will stop arguing I believe Dr. Huer has information for us."

With a final dirty look at Buck, Duke said, "Sorry Dr. Huer"

Dr. Huer gave him a brief nod, "I've received a ransom demand for Colonel Deering" the three of them looked like they were about to speak and he held up his hand for silence. "There's more. While the communication its self is untraceable there was a coded set of coordinates encrypted inside of it."

Duke leaned forward, "Do you think Wilma could have sent those coordinates somehow?"

Theo answered, "That seems highly unlikely, Major, the code is one earth hasn't used for twelve years."

Marla frowned, "Dr. Huer, if the code is that old it must be some kind of trick."

Dr. Huer nodded, "I've thought of that Major but it's also possible that…"

Buck interrupted excitedly, "That it's from Kane?"

"Yes."

Marla asked, "That's kind of a long shot isn't it?"

Buck replied thoughtfully, "It may be but it's the best shot we have. I want to check it out. Dr. Huer if you've been able to make the arrangements we spoke about. I'd like to leave immediately."

Dr. Huer replied, "There's one more thing Buck."

"What's that?"

"I've had a formal request from Princess Ardala to turn over any information we might gather on this matter to her and let her deal with it."

"Doc. you know as well as I do what her way of dealing with it will be! I need time to get Wilma out of there first!"

"I understand but Ardala does make a valid point. She was the one the pirates were attempting to capture, which makes it a Draconian matter. Colonel Deering's involvement doesn't change that."

Duke clenched his fists, "Now wait a minute! We can't just…"

Huer cut him off with a gesture, "With the peace talks being at such a critical stage I can hardly fail to honor her wishes in this. I'm afraid I have no choice but to order you to stay out of this, Buck. I'll have to turn this information over to the Princess _first thing in the morning_."

Buck nodded, "I understand Doctor Huer."

Duke opened his mouth but Doctor Huer spoke first, "Good, now that we've gotten that out of the way, the unmarked shuttle and the other things you asked for will be ready by the time you get back to earth."

Marla and Duke looked at Buck and Dr. Huer in surprise. Buck smiled, "You didn't expect me to follow orders twice in one day did you?"

Buck rose to leave but Duke stopped him, "Wait a minute Buck if you're…if you're taking a little vacation, I'd like to go with you."

Dr. Huer glanced at him, "I think that would be a good idea Buck. Ardala will move quickly once she has this information. By the time you get what you need from earth and reach the pirate's base you may only have a few hours lead on her forces and you don't know what you'll run into. You may need help. Major Landers can arrange for someone to replace Major Danton here."

Buck looked grim but nodded, "Ok let's go."

As they headed for the door Dr. Huer added, "And Buck, Major Danton, I know it goes without saying but I'd like all three of you back."

Duke turned and gave Dr. Huer a thumbs up, "Piece of Cake."

Buck smiled to see one of his expressions catching on.

* * *

Kane entered Wilma's cell, a man turned the force field back on after he entered, backed off a little way and stood watching. Another stood nearby with a tablet.

Kane walked up to Wilma and raised his arm as if to slap her, she grabbed his arm. He hissed at her under his breath, "Fight me it will give us a chance to talk."

Wilma gave him a small smile, "gladly." She twisted his arm behind his back and spoke in a whisper, "What have you learned?"

Kane broke her grip, turned and pushed her against the wall. He held her arms pinned, "They are pirates, simply out for profit, we are being held at their base. There are twelve of them here another 20 in space."

"Could we take the twelve that are here?" Wilma braced her back against the wall brought her legs up and pushed against Kane with her knees, he staggered backward and the two circled each other warily.

"If we did we'd have nowhere to go this planet has no atmosphere and their ships only land for shift changes or to deliver goods."

"We should take the base now and then wait for a ship to land."

"If they aren't given the proper code they won't land at all and I don't have that, they don't actually trust me."

"Wise of them." Wilma made a quick move for Kane.

He spun out of the way and came up behind her grabbing her from behind, "We'll have to wait to make our move until a ship lands, or until your Captain Rogers attempts a rescue."

"Were you able to send the coordinates?" She bent and threw him causing her cape to fly up over her head. Kane landed on his back quickly twisted over and jumped back up as Wilma threw the cape away from her face and they circled warily again.

"I believe so. I can't be sure."

"And the _conditioning_?"

"I hadn't anticipated that. You'll have to fight it as best you can and hope we find an _opportunity_ before they give you too many treatments." Kane lunged at Wilma. She kicked toward his chest. He grabbed her leg and she fell. She tried to twist out of the way and jump back up but got tangled in her cape. As she untangled herself Kane grabbed her arms and handcuffed her.

She staggered to her feet, "How do I know any of this is true?"

"You don't but you don't…"

"…have a choice. I know."

Kane spoke to her in his normal voice, "About these handcuffs Colonel…" he touched a button on his belt. Wilma gasped and fell to her knees holding her hands away from herself. Kane released the button and she hissed, "Was that really necessary?"

Kane grabbed her roughly by the arm and forced her to her feat "Yes, you aren't that good an actress, besides the adrenaline will help you fight the conditioning."

"Then why did they let you fight me?"

"They don't realize. They think I'm testing your reflexes."

He spoke to the guard, "She's ready."

The man turned off the force field and Kane pushed Wilma forward.

Warra entered and spoke to the man with the tablet, "You've gotten a baseline on her skills and reflexes?"

"Yes, she's extraordinary."

Warra smiled briefly, "Not for long." She turned to Kane looking thoughtful, "And it seems I've underestimated _you_ commander Kane."

Kane showed no reaction, "How so?"

"My… _contacts_ have shown a great deal of interest in you. It seems you've made quite a name for yourself. Even with the finder's fee you should be able to find a far more lucrative position than you had with the Draconians."

Kane smiled, "Perhaps being abducted has brought me good fortune."

Warra ran her had along Kane's arm and smiled at him seductively, "Perhaps it has."

Wilma looked worried as she glanced back and forth between Warra and Kane.


	5. Ch5- Know Your Enemy

A shuttle with a single pilot drifted through space. Suddenly it was surrounded by the same ships that had kidnapped Wilma and enveloped in green light. A message came over the communication system, "Attention unmarked vessel! You are transporting Niruvian crystals. We will take you to our base and relieve you of your cargo. Cooperate and you will live. Resist and you will be destroyed."

The pilot made no response.

* * *

The shuttle sat in the pirate's base. The back of the pilot's head had been opened to reveal circuitry inside. Three pirates were aboard as Warra entered. One of them looked up at her and smiled, "Somebody had a droid flying a shuttle carrying Niruvian crystals! It's like they were _asking_ to be robbed."

Warra frowned, "Yes, it is."

The pirates finished removing the crystals and left the ship. As they walked away Warra turned to two of them, "You two keep an eye on things here, just in case."

The shuttle sat quietly for another 15 minutes then two sections of the floor started to move and slid open reveling two hidden sections in the floor of the shuttle. Buck climbed out of one and grinned, "Doesn't anyone know the story of the Trojan horse?"

Duke climbed more slowly out of the other rubbing his shoulder, "Not the most comfortable way to travel."

"You promised if I brought you along you wouldn't complain."

"Who's complaining?" He pointed to Buck's wrist band. "You picking up Wilma on that thing?"

"Yes, let's go."

Buck opened the shuttle door a little way and peaked out, "Looks clear."

The two of them left the shuttle walking warily with their pistols drawn. When they were a few feet from the shuttle laser fire shot from across the bay narrowly missing them while someone shouted "Stop right there."

Buck and Duke dove behind a nearby container and returned fire. On the other side of the bay two pirates also took cover.

Duck glanced at Buck, "I guess one of them was a history major."

Buck made a face, "Just our luck! Cover me. I'm going to see if I can get the jump on them."

"You got it."

Duke fired at the Pirates while Buck made a running dive to another group of containers. From there he squeezed behind a few more and climbed a large container. He ran across it and jumped to the top of another. He could hear laser fire and looking to his left he could see the two pirates down below. They were busy returning Duke's fire and didn't look up. He needed to get closer but the next closest container was a far jump. Buck got as much of a running start as he could and leaped. He just made it but the top was uneven, he fell and started slipping. As he struggled to catch himself he lost his grip on his pistol and it fell to the ground with a loud crash. One of the Pirates moved cautiously to the spot where the pistol had fallen looking to the left and the right while Buck hung precariously above his head by one arm. When the pirate got directly below him buck let go muttering to himself, "Hope you don't mind me…" He landed on top of the pirate and took him out with a quick punch "…dropping in!"

The other pirate was still crouched behind a nearby container, at the sound of the scuffle he stood and aimed at Buck he pulled the trigger and was thrown sideways by as laser blast from Duke causing the pirate's fire to miss his mark by several feet.

Duke ran up and Buck smiled at him catching his breath. "Perfect timing Major. Thanks!"

Duke glanced up at the container Buck had fallen from and grinned, "Another 20th Century fighting technique?"

"Something like that. Let's get going before someone comes to investigate."

* * *

Kane was in Wilma's cell fighting with her, he was winning. Two guards stood nearby not paying a lot of attention. Wilma had removed her cape but was wearing handcuffs and was out of breath. She tried a kick to his chest but he easily grabbed her foot and threw her off balance. He leaned over her hissing, "You need to try _harder_!"

Wilma shot him an angry glare and got back to her feet. Just then Buck stuck his head around a corner and quickly pulled it back. Wilma tried to hit Kane with her cuffed hands as he blocked her she hissed, "Buck's here, we need to distract the guards."

"Fine." Kane threw her down on the cot and held her pinned there. She struggled uselessly against him.

The guards moved closer to the cell smiling, "Be careful with the merchandise Kane."

"Yes, you know we'll get a better price for her if she's… undamaged. Wara won't be pleased if you…"

Buck and Duke jumped out from behind the door and shot both the guards. They checked them quickly and Buck held up an unlocking device "Got it!" Buck turned off the force field to Wilma's cell.

By now Kane had released Wilma and was turning to face Buck and Duke. Duke shot him.

Wilma jumped up and quickly checked Kane's pulse, "Duke he was _helping_ me!"

Duke scowled, "It didn't look that way!"

"They've been using an MRC probe on me he was helping me fight the conditioning."

Duke looked shocked, "I only stunned him."

Buck looked between Duke and Wilma in confusion, "What's an MR…never mind. We don't have much time before the Draconians attack this base. We can't hang around until Kane wakes up." He frowned at Kane, "Wilma, are you _sure_ he was helping you?"

Wilma shook her head, "I'm not sure of anything but we can't just leave him here." She rolled up his sleeve revealing the wrist band, "Did you use this to track us?"

"Yes."

"Then he kept his word… about this anyway."

Buck sighed, "Alright, how are we going to…"

Laser fire hit him and Duke and they both collapsed. Wilma screamed.

"Back away from them Wilma!" Warra and three other pirates held pistols trained on her. Wilma backed up against the wall. Two of the pirates entered & took Buck and Duke's pistols. They left the cell and turned the force field back on."

Warra addressed the other pirates, "You heard what he said about the Draconians attacking we need to prepare to evacuate this base!"

One of them pointed a pistol at Wilma and the others "…and these?"

"Leave them for now. If we have time to collect them we can still sell them into slavery. Otherwise they'll die when the Draconians attack the base. A shame… I'd like to deal with them more _personally_ but we have more valuable merchandise to think about."

* * *

Buck opened his eyes to see Wilma leaning over him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Don't try to get up too fast."

Beside him Duke moaned and opened his eyes. Kane was already sitting up.

Buck gently removed Wilma's hand and sat up slowly, "I'm OK. How long were we out?"

Wilma turned to Duke, who accepted her assistance, while she answered, "Almost 30 minutes. They took your pistols and Kane's belt but they didn't search any of you."

Kane rolled up one of his pant legs, "Sloppy!" He pulled out a pistol. Seeing the surprised looks on the other's faces he added, "There are advantages to a looser uniform."

Buck pulled out a disk that hung on a chain around his neck, "We still have this, we can use it to get out of this cell."

Duke looked surprised, "You're going to set off an explosive in this small an area?"

"We need to be out before the Draconians attack. Unless someone has a better idea it's our best chance." Buck turned to Wilma, "What do you think?"

Wilma looked at Buck in confusion, "I…"

Kane snapped at her, "What are your orders Colonel?!"

Wilma gave her head a quick shake as if to clear it, "Use the explosive."

Buck took a quick look around the cell, "Ok, put that cot up on it's side, get behind it and cover your faces!"

They all moved quickly to comply as Buck set the explosive and rushed to join them behind the cot. He just made it before the explosive went off.

As the smoke cleared they all emerged coughing. Buck took a quick look around, "Everybody OK? Let's go."

The four of them took off down the corridor. A pirate came at them from around a corner. Kane shot him. Buck and Duke moved quickly to take his weapons. Suddenly Wilma screamed and fell to her knees holding out her arms. Kane shot her. Buck and Duke quickly pulled weapons on Kane.

Kane took in their angry expressions but didn't back down. "I only stunned her." When Buck and Duke didn't respond he continued, "They've activated her handcuffs there's no other way to get her out of here." An explosion sounded and everything shook. "Ardala's forces have started the attack we need to move."

While keeping his weapon trained on Kane Buck glanced quickly at Duke, "Check her."

Duke bent down and checked Wilma's pulse, "It's true. She's only stunned."

He started to put his weapon down to pick her up but Buck stopped him, "Wait you might need that." He gestured at Kane with his weapon, "You shot her, you carry her."

Kane looked like he was about to argue when another explosion went off, closer this time. Kane shrugged. He picked up Wilma and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry without putting down his pistol.

Buck nodded at Duke, "I'll take the lead. Cover him. If he tries anything suspicious shoot him."

"Gladly!"

The three of them made it back to the shuttle, avoiding explosions and shooting a few more pirates on the way. Buck flew the shuttle out narrowly missing being caught by several explosions.

Duke smiled, "Still showing off the fancy fly…!"

Buck swerved quickly narrowly avoiding fire from an approaching Draconian ship.

Kane quickly typed something into the coms unit shouting, "Hold your fire! This is commander Kane! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

Draconian ships surrounded them on all sides.


	6. Ch6- Understanding

Wilma opened her eyes to see Buck leaning over her.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't try to get up too fast."

Wilma gave him a weak smile, "This is switch."

She glanced around taking in her surroundings and then sat up quickly while Buck moved to support her, "Buck! Am I in the Draconian sick bay?"

"You needed medical attention quickly. It was faster to bring you here than try to get back to earth."

"Of course."

"I know you don't trust them but I've been here the whole time," he held up the handcuffs, "and they got these off of you before the pain did permanent damage. Care to keep them as a souvenir?"

Wilma shuddered, "Have them melted down!"

Buck's expression became serious, "Wilma, Kane was able to give us some information on the reconditioning you received, we've sent it on to the directory Clinic, he thinks with a lot of work you'll be able to make a full recovery within a year or t…"

"A _year_!?"

"Yes."

"I'll see what the Doctors on _earth_ have to say about that!"

"You don't …"

Buck was interrupted by Ardala entering the room, "Colonel Deering you're looking…" She ran her eyes up and down Wilma's body, "I see you're awake. Buck, I'd like to speak to Colonel Deering alone, if you'll excuse us."

Buck raised his eyebrows but after a nod from Wilma he left the room.

"I thought you might want this back." Ardala handed Wilma her defense directorate uniform, "I'm afraid I may have stretched it in a couple of places."

"Thank you." Wilma looked down at the remains of Ardala's outfit, "I lost your cape and…"

"Oh; I wouldn't have worn that again anyway." Ardala stared at Wilma for a moment, "It looked better on me."

"Of course."

"I'd like to ask you something."

"Ok"

"Did you know Buck would come back for you?"

"I knew he would try."

"Yes, he does have a… saving people thing doesn't he? But, you knew how likely it was that he wouldn't have a chance, that the pirates would realize what you'd done and kill you?"

"Yes."

"Then… why …?"

"It was my duty to get you to the peace talks. I'm sure you'd have done the same for…"

"No."

Wilma smiled, "I was going to say for your people."

"Still no…but you're so much more noble than I am, aren't you? I'm sure Buck admires that… Well played Colonel."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do. It seems I underestimated you, Wilma, it won't happen again. I didn't get where I am by underestimating my competition."

"If you think _I'm_ your competition you don't know much about Buck."

"Please, those women he dates? Has anyone of his relationships lasted more than a week? They're just a distraction; he'll soon tire of them and then he'll be ready for a real relationship."

Wilma looked thoughtful, "Princess could I ask you a personal question?"

Ardala nodded.

"Why this fixation on Buck? You're an, intelligent, powerful, beautiful, woman, surely you could have almost any man you wanted. Why do you put so much time and energy into trying to win Buck over when it seems that he's…just not that interested in you."

"Well, you're not unpleasant to look at or unintelligent and you've achieved a certain amount of power yourself. I could ask you the same question."

"Buck and I are friends."

Ardala smiled, "You think that I'm ruthless, arrogant and manipulative, oh don't bother to deny it I take it as a compliment, I go after what I want Colonel and in the end I _always_ get what I want, that's where I have the advantage over you. You can't even be honest about what you want, not even with yourself."

Wilma frowned slightly but made no reply. After a few moments Ardala continued. "Anyway I just wanted to let you know, I know what you were up to. I wouldn't want you to think I was grateful to you for saving me."

"No, of course not."

"Then we understand each other."

Wilma was saved from having to reply by the entrance of commander Kane, "Colonel Deering the earth shuttle is ready to depart whenever you are…" He suddenly noticed that Ardala was in the room and he looked momentarily surprised before composing his features. "Princess, I apologize for the interruption I didn't know you were here."

"Were you avoiding me Kane?"

"Of course not. I simply…"

"You've presented me with a quite a dilemma you know. I don't know whether to reward you for helping to save me and destroying the pirate base or have you executed for leaving my side." She smiled seductively, "What do you think I should do Kane?"

"I couldn't say Princess."

"No? Well, you're lucky you caught me in a good mood, I'm inclined to be merciful."

"Then you aren't going to have me executed princess?" Kane kept his face blank but a close observer might have imagined he was holding back a smile.

"Not today, Kane."

Ardala turned to Wilma, "Don't let us detain you Colonel."

Wilma rose to leave, "Thank you for your hospitality princess." She turned to Kane, "Commander Kane I…"

Kane stuck out his hand, "Perhaps a rematch when you have recovered Colonel."

Wilma smiled and shook his hand, "I'd enjoy that."

Ardala frowned as she watched Wilma leave, "Did you make a new friend Kane?"

"Not at all, I simply enjoy a challenge." He did a double take, "Why? Would you care if I had?"

"Of course not, but I don't see how she could be much of a challenge for you. I'm sure _I_ could beat her in hand to hand combat."

"She's highly trained in several martial arts techniques!"

"And I have _thirty two sister_s Kane! I believe I could take her."

"I would enjoy watching that princess."

Ardala shot him a suspicious look but his expression was blank.

* * *

_A/N: I would have liked to include a good cat fight between Ardala and Wilma but the story didn't go in a way where that worked. Perhaps I'll have one sometime in future or perhaps it's better left to the imagination after all. I once came across a discussion board where people were talking about weather Erin Gray could have played Ardala and it got me thinking of a story where Wilma would need to impersonate Ardala. Then it sort of fell in nicely as the beginning of a longer story I'd been imagining. _

_Thanks to lucimo1 for my first review! I'm glad you are enjoying it so far – I hope you continue to enjoy it - the next few chapters will be more character than plot focused -until a new threat immerges. _


	7. Ch7- Part 2, Decisions

Part 2

* * *

_Three months later._

Buck and Wilma entered Dr. Huer's office, "You wanted to see us Dr. Huer?"

"Yes, have a seat, please."

They sat down and Dr. Huer sat across from them. A new plant that Buck had recently given him was sitting on Dr. Huer's desk. He shifted it slightly so that it wouldn't block his view before he continued, "Colonel, I had a meeting this morning with Doctor Selic. She feels that you are making remarkable progress in overcoming the conditioning the pirates used on you."

In spite of his words Dr. Huer's expression was grave. Wilma studied his face for a few moments before replying, "But not enough progress to be put back on active duty."

Dr. Huer sighed, "I'm afraid with the kind of split second decisions necessary to command our defense squadron your reaction times just aren't fast enough."

"I understand."

"Dr. Selic believes that in another six months or so…"

"SIX MONTHS!?"

"I know it sounds like a long time, but when you consider how long you trained to get where you were…"

"And the pirates undid all of that in a few _days_!"

When Dr. Huer didn't answer Buck spoke, "Doc, from what I understand Wilma was conditioned by some kind of psychological machine. Couldn't we use the same kind of machine to reverse what they did?"

Wilma sounded annoyed, "I've talked to Dr. Selic about that _several_ times, she's unwilling to try it!"

Dr Huer frowned, "Surely Dr. Selic explained how risky that would be."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"I'm NOT!"

"Doctor.."

"Absolutely NOT! I will not allow you to risk your mind, maybe your life, simply to save a few months of your recovery!"

"I might NEVER recover!"

Buck placed a hand on her arm, "Wilma you can't start thinking like that."

Dr. Huer took a deep breath before answering calmly, "There's every reason to think that, with time, you'll make a full recovery. Your progress so far has been remarkable."

Wilma opened her mouth to speak but Dr. Huer interrupted her. "I'm sorry but it's not debatable... You know I'm right Colonel, if you were in my position you would be doing the same thing."

Wilma dropped her eyes and nodded, "Yes Doctor."

"Colonel I asked you here to discuss an alternative."

Wilma looked up quickly as Dr. Huer continued, "There's a… well a sort of unofficial mission I could send you on, both of you, if you're willing to go."

"What is it?"

"First I should tell you, Buck, that I know you have a meeting later with Admiral Asimov."

Wilma looked surprised, "Admiral Asimov, isn't he from the Space Exploration Division of the Science Directorate? Why are you meeting with him, Buck?" she frowned, "Or is it something you can't talk about."

"I wasn't keeping it a secret, Wilma, I just didn't happen to mention it. The Admiral didn't say why he wants to meet with me. It sounds like Dr. Huer knows more about it than I do."

They both looked at Dr. Huer.

"I might. My guess is that he's going to try to recruit you to join the Searcher."

"I'm still clueless Doc. What's the Searcher?"

"It's a ship the Space Exploration Division is working on; it will be a highly advanced research vessel, one of the most advanced in the galaxy. Admiral Asimov is in charge of its first mission, a two year mission which is primarily to seek out the lost tribes of Earth."

"Lost tribes of earth?"

"As earth was beginning to recover from the Holocaust, many people chose not to stay here and try to rebuild. A lot of our resources went into colonizing other planets. But as things on Earth deteriorated we lost contact with many of these Colonies. The searcher's mission will be to try to find out what happened to these colonies and reestablish contact in addition to other research, exploration and peacekeeping missions that may be assigned along the way. Given the kind of resourcefulness you've shown it's easy to see why the Admiral would try to recruit you."

Buck looked thoughtful, "Sounds a bit like Star Trek"

"Star _Trek_?"

"You know, seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly go where no man…sorry, I mean… no _one_ has gone before?" Buck looked at the other two's blank expressions, "Never mind, actually I guess it's more like Battlestar Galactica."

Wilma and Dr. Huer exchanged a glance and a shrug.

Dr. Huer continued, "The Searcher will be ready to begin its mission in another month."

Wilma started, "A month? How could something like this come together so quickly?"

"Certain members of the computer council have been pushing for it, and funding has been approved incredibly quickly – That's one of the things making me suspicious that there's something else going on with this mission, some kind of hidden agenda. You both know that some members of the computer council are less than happy about the way humans have been taking more responsibility for running things on earth. It's these same quads who have been so adamant about pressing everything through that has to do with the searcher."

"What do you think they could hope to gain?"

"I don't know. In fact there's no evidence that there's any reason to think something is wrong. I guess this is what you would call a gut instinct Buck. Of course I can't open an official investigation without evidence that there's a real threat to earth, but, I'd feel better if there were a couple of people aboard the Searcher that I could trust to keep their eyes open for anything suspicious, and, given the long periods of time the Searcher will be out of contact with earth, people I can trust to use their best judgment if anything comes up. I know it seems a bit farfetched to think members of the computer council could be up to anything underhanded…"

"Especially when they don't' even have hands," said Buck, "There's one thing I don't follow. Wouldn't the quads programming keep them from doing anything to harm a human being?"

"No, that's robots, the quads are programmed to act for the greater good of earth even if that means harming individual humans. Their ordering your execution back when you first arrived is one example of that."

"That's crazy! What if they were to decide it's in the best interest of earth to get rid of _all_ the humans?"

Huer and Wilma looked at Buck in surprise, "That wouldn't happen!"

"Why not?"

"Well it just…"

"How do you know? Is it so different than what you're afraid of? That they will decide it's in earth's best interest to keep themselves in charge and take steps to ensure they stay in charge? That is what you're afraid of isn't it?"

Dr. Huer sighed, "I suppose it is."

They all sat silently absorbing this for a few minutes until Wilma asked, "Dr. you said you think the Admiral will try to recruit Buck for this mission, but what about me?"

"Well, that's a bit tricky, there's no reason someone of your rank would join the crew of the Searcher unless... well… unless…"

"Unless I were unsuited for more responsibility."

Dr. Huer nodded, "Admiral Asimov is an old friend of mine. If I asked him to give you a position as a favor to me I think he would do it. And if we were to replace your test results with results that would be more typical, it would make sense for me to ask for such a favor."

Wilma nodded thoughtfully but made no reply.

Dr. Huer continued, "I do realize what I'm asking. Colonel, if I'm wrong you'd be putting your career at the Directorate on hold longer than necessary for no good reason. And, since I'm working without the approval of the computer council it's unlikely I could ever let anyone know the truth. And Buck, I'm sure there are some aspects of the Searcher's mission that will appeal to you. Many of the planets you'd be exploring will be earth-like planets that don't have the technology we do. Frankly that's something you'll be better suited for than almost anyone on earth which I'm sure is why Asimov is anxious to recruit you and I'm sure he'll stress these aspects of the mission. But there will also be long periods of time where you are traveling through space with nothing much to do and while the searcher is the largest Space Exploration vessel earth has; it's not that large. If you sometimes find the artificial environment on earth confining and antiseptic you need to think about how much more true that will be spending so much time on a ship.

"Also, neither of you have ever been undercover for such a long period of time, especially in a situation like this where you are part of a small crew. It will be much more difficult to maintain your objectivity.

"I don't expect either of you to give me an answer now. I'd just like to ask you to give it careful consideration and let me know in a few days. If you chose not to do this I'll understand completely."

Buck spoke, "Yea, I will, just two more questions. First, have you talked to Dr. Theopolis about any of this?"

Dr. Theoplis's voice came from behind the plant, "Dr. Huer has my full support."

Buck jumped, "Sorry Theo I didn't see you back there!"

"That's quite all right Captain Rogers. I wasn't purposely concealing my presence, but I did judge it best to let the three of you talk without drawing attention to myself. To answer your question: I was the one who brought some of the actions of members of the computer council to Dr. Huer's attention. I find it hard to believe any of my fellow council members would do more than debate against greater human involvement in Earth's leadership. But I've also worked with Dr. Huer long enough to trust his instincts."

"Ok. Now for my second question: Have either of you considered that the Searcher could be a red herring?"

"A red herring?"

"Something to divert your attention from what's really going on."

"Ah," Dr. Huer answered, "If it is I'll have sent two of my best operatives away just when I most need you. That's certainly possible."

"But your gut is telling you it's not."

"Yes."

"Good enough. You've given me a lot to think about." Buck looked at his watch, "I have to meet with the Admiral in an hour, I want to take a walk before that, clear my head."

"Of course. Just one more thing. No matter what you decide I need to ask you not to repeat this conversation to anyone outside this room including Twiki."

Buck frowned, "I trust Twiki and we might need his help."

"It's not a matter of trust. It would be too easy for a member of the computer council to access any information Twiki has."

Buck looked like he was about to argue further but Dr. Theopolis spoke first, "Dr. Huer is right Buck if Twiki's data were hacked there would be nothing he could do to stop it."

"Alright, I don't like it but I won't say anything to Twiki."

"Thank you and I appreciate you considering this Buck."

"No problem, we'll talk more soon."

As he rose to leave Buck turned to Wilma, "I'll see you later?"

She nodded in a distracted kind of way. Buck kissed her on the forehead and left the room.

Dr. Huer looked thoughtful, "Sometimes I wonder if Buck's attachment to Twiki is entirely healthy."

Wilma appeared not to have heard and asked, "This is a real mission isn't it Dr. Huer?"

"What do you mean?"

Before she could answer a look of understanding crossed Dr. Huer's face, "Colonel, you can't possibly think I'd make this whole thing up to get rid of you!"

Wilma shook her head "No, no of course not." But she looked relived.

"Colonel, believe me, losing you for two years isn't something I relish, nor is it something I'd do lightly. I know I've given very little justification for my concerns…"

"I trust your instincts Doctor. I'll do it."

Dr. Huer looked both pleased and surprised, "I appreciate your faith in me Colonel but don't you want to talk with Buck before you make a decision?"

"Do you still want me on this mission if Buck doesn't go?"

"Of course but I assumed, I mean…"

He glanced at Dr. Theopolis, "Doctor, do you mind if I get someone to take you back to your office so that I can talk to Colonel Deering alone?"

"Not at all Doctor Huer."

Doctor Huer carried Doctor Theopolis out of the office and returned. He sat down next to Wilma looking uncomfortable, "Colonel I've come to consider you as a friend, I hope you can say the same."

She smiled, "Of course."

"Well then, as a friend, do you mind if I start a personal conversation?"

"No, go ahead."

"Very well, I can't help but notice that you and Buck have been spending a lot of time together lately and that Buck hasn't… eh… made any _new friends_ in quite a while. Are you sure you don't want to talk with him before making a decision? If you join the Searcher and he doesn't you'll have very little contact over the next two years."

Wilma's cheeks colored slightly, "We have been spending a lot of time together, and I've enjoyed that, but there's no reason to think it will continue or that Buck won't meet anyone else."

"Col…Wilma, have you considered talking to Buck about how you feel about him?"

Wilma dropped her eyes, "It's…complicated."

"Ah, I see... I'm sorry."

Wilma looked up and gave him a quick smile.

* * *

_One week later._

Buck entered Wilma's apartment. It looked very much like his apartment had before he'd redecorated. It didn't have any personal touches except for a photo, a picture of the fighting 69th taken more than 20 years ago. Wilma was also in the picture, a child, sitting on her father's shoulders holding a toy laser pistol.

Today Wilma was wearing her Searcher uniform including the cap, as Buck entered she turned away from her mirror.

Buck grinned, "What's with the Dairy Queen get-up?"

"If you're asking about my cloths this is my uniform and before you say anything I realize _exactly_ how silly it is! I've never understood why the Space Exploration Division has separate uniforms for men and women."

Buck looked pointedly at her legs and raised his eyebrows, "I can't imagine... I'm just glad I talked the Admiral into taking me on as a consultant."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, among other things, that aside from formal occasions I can wear whatever I want."

Wilma smiled, "You've decided to join the Searcher?"

"Yea, that's what I came to tell you. And, Theo says you have some things to show me?" He glanced again at her legs but Wilma didn't notice.

She turned and opened a box, "Yes," she took out some items and showed them to Buck, "We'll need to place these on the walls in my quarters, once they're placed they'll be invisible, and then when we turn this on," She picked up the photo and touched a small hidden button on the side of the frame a red light came on, "It will block any kind of audio surveillance."

"So we can talk in your quarters without anyone ease dropping?"

"Exactly," She flipped the photo over and opened the back of the frame, "It's also a subspace transmitter."

"Won't we be too far out of range to talk to Dr. Huer most of the time?"

"Yes, but when we are in range, we can contact him without our conversation being monitored."

Buck nodded taking the photo from her and looking at how it worked, "I'm glad Theo's on our side."

He closed it back up and looked for a moment at the photo before setting it down, "Your hair was really blond back then, almost white." He stared at her for a moment. Her hair was almost entirely brown.

Wilma shrugged, "It's been turning darker ever since, especially over the last couple few years. I don't know why."

Buck reached out and took a lock of her hair running it between his fingers and saying quietly, "It's pretty" before slowly letting it fall back into place.

"Buck, I'm glad you decided to join the Searcher. I'd miss…working with you."

"I'd miss working with you too." He smiled mischievously, "Especially now that I've seen your new uniform."

He moved closer to her. For a moment it looked like he would kiss her but he reached up and pushed down the front of her cap so that it touched the bridge of her nose. She pulled it off and swatted him with it laughing. Buck grabbed the cap and held it out of reach, "Careful Colonel, you wouldn't want to be caught out of uniform."

She frowned, "I think the cap is optional."

* * *

_3 weeks later_

Duke and Wilma sat at a table in a bar. Duke asked, "What's taking Buck so long to get those drinks?"

Wilma glanced in the direction of the bar and smiled, "I wouldn't count on him coming back any time soon."

Duke turned and followed her gaze to where Buck was standing talking to an attractive woman. Duke turned back to Wilma, "And this is the guy you are following across the universe?"

"Duke, we've talked about why I decided to join the searcher, you know I'm not _following_ Buck."

"Is he following you?...sorry none of my business."

Wilma answered anyway, "No one's following anybody, we each made independent decisions."

"Oh, I just thought…Never mind. I'm sorry I brought it up. It's your last night here. I don't want to start another argument about why you shouldn't leave."

"Thank you, Duke."

Just then a voice interrupted them, "Excuse me Colonel but this is a Defense Directory bar. The losers from the Science Directorate hang out across the street."

"Noah!" Wilma jumped up to hug Noah Cooper who was standing behind her, "I thought your squadron was still assigned to Delta 7!"

"They can get along without me for a few hours. You didn't think I'd let you go off into space for two years without saying goodbye did you?"

As Noah and Wilma sat down Duke glanced over and saw that the woman Buck was talking to had been joined by some friends. Duke shook his head, "I better go get us some drinks. What are you drinking Major?"

Noah gave Duke his order. Duke walked over to the bar and Noah turned back to Wilma, "So, are you going to tell me what this is really about?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"The _Space Exploration Division_? Come on Dizzy D. we use to make fun of those guys."

"This is different. The Searcher is a good opportunity, Admiral Asimov…"

"_Admiral _Asimov - he has _one ship_!"

"Noah…"

"And don't give me any BS about this being the only kind of duty you are suited for. I know you better than to believe you'd give up this easily!"

"Noah," Wilma placed her hand on her arm, "I need you to trust me when I tell you I have a good reason for what I'm doing. And, before you ask it has nothing to do with Buck!"

"I wasn't going to ask, but at least that would make some sense of why you are throwing away your career like this."

"I'm _NOT_ _throwing away_…!" Wilma took a breath and continued quietly, "I'm not throwing away anything. It's a temporary transfer, Majors Landers and Danton will continue to handle my responsibilities and at the end of the Searcher's mission I'll be able to return to my position."

Noah looked surprised, "Why would Dr. Huer agree to…" then his expression changed and he said very softly, "You're undercover."

"No, I simply need to do something else for a while, something with less responsibility while I recover; it's been a difficult three months."

They exchanged a significant glance and Noah answered, "I understand."

Duke returned and they were about halfway through their drinks when Buck returned with the drinks they had ordered earlier.

Duke shook his head, "Nice of you to join us Captain."

"Sorry about that." Buck turned to Noah and shook his hand, "Good to see you can I get you another…"

"No thanks I can't stay long, besides if we send you for any more drinks we might never see you again."

Buck smiled sheepishly and sat down. He lifted his glass in a toast, "Well, Through Adversity to the Stars." They all returned his toast and sat talking. Occasionally other people stopped by their table to say goodbye.

After a couple of hours Wilma glanced at her watch, "I should get going."

Duke looked disappointed, "So soon?"

"Yes, I still have some things I need to tie up before we leave tomorrow."

Noah stood, "I should get going too."

The others stood as well and Duke turned to Wilma, "I still don't understand why you're doing this but I hope… well, I hope things turn out well for you."

"Thank you Duke." she hugged him and added, "Take care of yourself."

Noah shook hands with Buck and Duke wishing Buck well on his journey. Buck gave Wilma a quick hug, "I'll see you in the morning."

With a pointed look at the women Buck had been talking to earlier, Wilma said, "Don't forget we report at 06:00."

"I'll be there."

As Wilma and Noah left Duke and Buck returned to their seats. Duke watched Wilma leave and then turned back to Buck. Buck's attention seemed to have wandered to the women at the bar. Duke stared at him for a minute before saying in a slightly annoyed tone, "Every time I start thinking you aren't such an idiot you prove me wrong."

"What did _I _do?"

"It's what you didn't do."

Buck looked baffled and Duke spoke again, "To put it in terms you can understand; you are settling for prime rib when you could have ham."

Buck suppressed a laugh, "Do me a favor, stop trying to speak 20th century and tell me what the hell you're talking about."

"Wilma."

"What about..., Duke, Wilma isn't joining the searcher to be with me."

"You both made independent decisions. She told me. —look, obviously _my_ relationship with Wilma didn't turn out the way I would have liked it to but at least I wasn't afraid to try."

Buck gestured to Duke's empty glass, "How many of those have you had?"

Duke ignored this and asked, "Can you honestly tell me you don't have feelings for her?"

Buck made no reply.

"I didn't think so. So, what are you afraid of?"

Buck looked like he was about to make a joke, changed his mind, and sighed, "The truth is I'm not sure how I feel about Wilma."

Duke didn't answer immediately and when he spoke his tone was less accusatory, "Maybe that's something you should figure out before she meets someone else."

"Yea," Buck answered looking thoughtful, "maybe it is."

After a minute or so he seemed to shake off his thoughtful mood, "In the meantime, you see those women over there?"

"Yes."

"Well there are four of them and I only have until 06:00."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning do you want to keep talking about what an idiot I am or do you want to go meet them?"

"I want to go meet them. You may be an idiot but you're one hell of a wing man."


	8. Ch8- Settling a Bet

_Takes place a few days after Journey to Oasis_

Wilma stood in her quarters aboard The Searcher. Buck came up behind her and put his arm around her. She hesitated and then threw him over her shoulder. It was a clumsy throw and she winced rubbing her shoulder as if she had hurt herself.

Buck looked up at her, "Better."

She shook her head, "My reactions are still too slow. If that had been an actual assault… Let me try it again."

Buck got slowly to his feet. "I think we should take a break."

"I don't need a break."

"_I_ do. I'm the one being thrown around you know."

Wilma smiled, "Ok, sorry."

She took a seat on the couch. Before he joined her Buck turned on the button on her picture frame that would keep anyone from ease dropping on them. Wilma raised her eyebrows and Buck spoke, "Speaking of your reaction time, I've been meaning to talk to you about your target practice the other day."

"What about it?"

"Too good, you aren't suppose to have improved that much yet."

"I purposely missed over half the targets!"

"Yea, but most of them were the easiest ones. If you keep doing that someone might notice a pattern."

"Oh."

Wilma rubbed her shoulder again. Buck stood, walked around behind her and massaged it for her. She smiled relaxing, "Mmmm… thank you. How am I going to improve if I can't practice?"

"You can practice, just aim for something besides the target and make sure there's not a pattern to it."

She looked at him in surprise, "I didn't think of that."

For a few minutes neither of them spoke as Buck continued to massage her shoulder, then Wilma looked up at him, "Buck, I think we should talk about what happened on R-4."

Buck stopped rubbing her shoulder, "I'm rested enough, let's try that throw again."

"Buck"

"Yea, alright." He sat down across from her, "Look if this is about the Ambassador I'm…"

"It's not."

"Oh." Buck looked relieved.

"Do _you_ think we need to talk about the Ambassador?"

"No I… What did you want to talk about?"

"I've been thinking. What if Dr. Huer was wrong?"

Buck looked a little confused, "Then we're here for two years, I guess."

She shook her head, "Not about the Searcher about me. I'm concerned that I've become a liability. When the atavar attacked us you were protecting me. "

"That was just a knee jerk reaction. It doesn't mean I think you can't take care of yourself. We've always had each other's backs."

"Yes but we were both supposed to be protecting the Ambassador."

"OK so we both made a mistake. Neither of us was at our best on that mission."

"I haven't been at my best since we got here. Bringing Dr. Goodfellow to Throm was also a bad decision."

"Well, you're supposed to be making some bad decisions to preserve your cover aren't you? Besides, you were trying to gain his confidence. I still think it's suspicious that he's our only scientist no matter how many PHDs he has and he made Twiki sound like big bird."

"Big _Bird_?"

Buck sighed, "Never mind."

"Well if you don't like Twiki's new voice I'm sure Dr. Goodfellow can change it back. I agree it's odd he's our only scientist. I can't believe he's dangerous but he'd be easy enough to distract if his scientific curiosity were aroused."

"Do you think that's what someone wanted?"

Wilma frowned, "Maybe."

"Any thoughts on the Admiral?"

"I still can't figure him out. Half the time he practically takes orders from you and the other …Buck we've been over all this you're just trying to distract me. It was a bad decision to bring Dr. Goodfellow to Throm. I shouldn't be doing anything to preserve my cover that's actually puts anyone in danger."

"OK, it was a bad decision, but I think you're being too hard on yourself. Anyone can make a mistake."

Wilma answered sharply, "When I make mistakes it gets people killed."

"It didn't this time. I hate to break it to you but you weren't perfect before the pirate's conditioning."

When she didn't answer Buck continued, "Wilma, why did you agree to this mission? Dr. Huer's reason for sending us was pretty flimsy."

"I trust his instincts."

"Exactly, so trust his instincts —he thought you were the best person to send out here didn't he? Someone he could trust to handle the unexpected?"

She nodded, "I guess so it's just harder than I realized it would be to keep straight what's my cover and what's… just me. Ever since we joined the searcher I've been feeling so..."

"Out of character?"

"Something like that. "

Buck stood and took her hand pulling her to her feet. He moved closer to her and said softly, "I know what will make you feel better."

"Oh?"

"Come on. I'll let you throw me around some more."

* * *

_Takes place five days after Shgoratchx:_

Wilma stood in the middle of the bridge as if she were frozen in place. All around her the crew members were being attacked by dark shadowy figures with indistinct features. Lieutenant Devlin tried to throw a punch at one but the thing ducked under his arm and put its hands against his chest. What looked like an electric current came out of the thing's hands and shot through Devlin's body. Devlin convulsed and fell to the floor.

Other Crew members tried to shoot the things but the laser beams went right through them and damaged some of the equipment on the bridge. Sparks flew into the air and some equipment caught fire.

The Admiral shouted, "Colonel do something!"

Wilma tried to move but couldn't. A figure grabbed the Admiral from behind and sent an electric current through his body. The Admiral convulsed and collapsed.

"Wilma!" Hawk was fighting three of the figures, kicking and punching, "Wilma help!" a fourth figure jumped on top of him and zapped him with the current, for a moment it looked like he would be able to fight it off but then he too convulsed and collapsed. Wilma tried again to move but wasn't able to.

"Colonel Deering!" This time Wilma was able to turn enough to see Dr. Huer approaching her from across the bridge.

"Dr. Huer! "How did you get on board the Searcher?!"

Dr. Huer was killed before he could respond.

"Dizzy D!"

Wilma turned again, "Noah?!"

Noah Cooper was standing on the other side of the bridge and was quickly taken down by one of the figures.

"NOAH!"

Wilma was the only one left standing; tears ran down her face as she continued to struggle against whatever was holding her in place.

The doors to the Bridge blasted open and Buck ran in with a laser-pistol in each hand shooting as he ran. The only result was more damage to the bridge. The dark figures surrounded him. Buck gave up on shooting and threw the pistols away. For some reason this caused a couple of the figures to duck. Buck kicked and punched at the figures but they kept coming. He tried to kick one in the chest and it grabbed his leg. Buck fell.

"Buck!" Wilma tried even more desperately to move forward. The figures were all around Buck now blocking him from her view.

Sparks rose from the midst of the group and there was a loud zapping sound.

Wilma screamed and…

woke up.

"Lights!"

The lights came on and Wilma was sitting in her bunk in her own quarters. She looked around breathing heavily, "just a dream" she murmured to herself as she gripped her cover to her, "just a dream… just a dream…"

* * *

Simmons looked up from her glass of vinol and smiled at Buck, "I shouldn't be here."

"Why not?"

"I don't think Colonel Deering would appreciate me being in your quarters."

"We're just talking."

"We were just talking the time in the corridor and she didn't seem too happy about it."

Buck smiled, "Wilma was just yanking my chain that day."

Simmons looked confused "Yanking your chain?"

"Teasing me…giving me a hard time…she wasn't really mad."

She shrugged, "If you say so. What's the situation with you two anyway?"

"The _situation_?" Buck took a long sip of his vinol.

"You know… you care for her?"

"Of course I do…Wilma was one of the first friends I made in this century and we've been through a lot together… had each other's backs in a lot of tight spots...we've saved each other's lives so often that we've lost track…"

He shrugged, "We're close."

"How close?" She paused "Have you ever…?"

"Look the thing about me and Wilma is…"

"Yes?" Simmons asked eagerly, "The thing is?"

Buck looked suspicious, "You know, you're the third person in two days to ask me about my relationship with Colonel Deering."

"Am I?"

"Yes! What's going on? Why all the questions?"

"I just asked because…because I like you Buck. But Colonel Deering is my superior and I have a lot of respect for her. If there's something between you two I wouldn't want to…"

Buck frowned and shook his head, "No that's not it."

Simmons opened her mouth looking surprised as Buck continued talking, "I'm pretty good at knowing when a woman is into me. You're after something else. Come on Simmons, spill it!"

"Spill…"

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Nothing's going on… I'm just interested that's all. You can't blame me for being curious about the two of you. A lot of people are."

"And?"

"And…OK…I was trying to settle a bet."

"A _bet_!? You _bet_ that Colonel Deering and I …?"

Buck was interrupted by a chime signaling that someone was at the door.

"Come in."

The door slid open and Wilma stood in the doorway looking rumpled & groggy.

Buck looked startled, "Wilma! I thought you were sleeping."

"Buck, I wondered if…Oh." She'd just noticed that Buck wasn't alone, "Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to interrupt… I…never mind..." She turned and walked away.

"Wilma!"

Buck turned back to Simmons and said, "I'm sorry… I need to… excuse me."

Simmons looked like she was trying not to smile, "Of course, Captain."

Buck turned and ran after Wilma, "Wilma, wait up!"

He caught up to her as she entered her own quarters and jumped in behind her before the door slid shut, "Wilma that was nothing we were just talking!"

Wilma smiled slightly, "I'm sorry I interrupted your… _conversation_ but you didn't need to come after me, Buck. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"You didn't interrupt anything. She wanted to know…she wanted some information."

"OK."

"Wilma, believe me..."

"I do.

"Nothing happened...nothing was _about_ to happen."

"Buck, why are you making such an issue out of this? I'm _not_ arguing with you."

"I…" Buck stood with his mouth open for a second then he sighed, "I don't know… I guess something Simmons said got me flustered. It's not important."

Buck glanced around Wilma's quarters noticing that her bunk was unmade, "What were you coming to see me about?"

"Oh I," She crossed the room, picked up her picture and turned on the anti-surveillance, "I've been thinking we should tell Hawk about our real mission here. But, we don't have to talk about it right now if your, um, _busy_."

Buck did a double-take, "What?"

"Dr. Huer said we should use our best judgment out here. If there is something going on Hawk couldn't possibly be part of it because no one knew he'd be here. Also, his first loyalty is to you. I think we should brief him in case…"

"In case what? OK, sure, including Hawk is a good idea but weren't you sleeping?"

"No I… I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep."

Buck looked at her more closely and his expression turned concerned, "Wilma you look exhausted. You were practically falling asleep at dinner earlier. What's going on?"

"It's nothing…"

Buck moved closer and put his hands on her shoulders, "Come on, Wilma, talk to me. What's up?"

She gave a half shrug, "It's silly…I…since the Zirdonians were on board I haven't been getting much sleep… I've been having nightmares… and the last few days they've been getting worse."

"Well the Zirdonians were enough to give anyone nightmares."

Wilma made a brief effort to smile but her face dropped, "My reaction to the Zirdonaians makes me question whether I've really overcome the pirate's conditioning enough to be on this mission. When they tried to…examine me…all I did was scream and grab my cloths I didn't defend myself."

She turned her face away.

Buck spoke gently, "You want to bring Hawk in on the mission because you're afraid you won't be up to whatever we might be facing."

She nodded.

Buck sighed, "Wilma, you can't beat yourself up like this every time something goes wrong. It doesn't mean you haven't overcome the conditioning."

"This isn't just a bad decision I was under attach and I froze."

"I still think you're being too hard on yourself. It's not like you were being attached by an enemy. The Zirdonian's were our guests, a race we've never encountered before. Besides if you had defended yourself too well you might have blown your cover. It was an awkward situation… I'm sorry I left you alone with them."

Wilma shook her head, "If I'd actually thought about all that and _decided_ not to defend myself I would agree with you but I didn't. If something like that had happened to me before the conditioning I would have acted out of reflex … and you _shouldn't_ be sorry you left them with me, we've talked about this before, if you start feeling like you have to protect me I'm a liability!"

"I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that they were too much for anyone to handle. If I'd had any idea…"

Buck had not removed his hands from Wilma's shoulders, he continued to stand that way studying her face for a few moments before continuing, "Ok, so you didn't kick the dwarves' butts and maybe there are things about the conditioning you are still dealing with. But you have come a long way in fighting it… you _have…_and it's not just that your reflexes are back to normal, you're more like your old self..."

"My reflexes are better in _safe_ practice situations. If I'm going to freeze when there's real danger…"

"I don't believe that. Wilma, there's no one, _no one_, I'd rather have covering my back in _any_ situation."

"Thank you Buck, that means a lot to me, but I'd still feel better if we talked to Hawk."

"We will _after_ you get some sleep. Everything feels worse when you're overtired." Buck turned her by her shoulders and started to head her toward her bunk but she stopped him.

"No, I … I can't go to sleep just yet, I…"

"Wilma you're exhausted, if you really can't sleep maybe you should see if Lieutenant Paulton can give you something."

"No, I don't want… that would just keep me from waking up. The longer it takes to wake up the worse the nightmares are."

"Ok…" Buck tried again to maneuver her into her bunk and this time he got her to lie down. He pulled the cover over her and sat on the side of the bed as he continued talking, "If you go to sleep I'll stay here and if it looks like you're having a nightmare I'll wake you up."

"All right." Wilma closed her eyes but after a few minutes she laughed and opened them again.

"Buck this is silly I can't fall asleep with you staring down at me like that!"

Buck sighed, "Ok, scootch over."

"Schootch?"

Buck made a hand motion indicating that she should move over. Wilma moved over and turned on to her side with her back to Buck. Buck took off his boots and lay down next to her but on top of the cover. He put his arm around her and gave her a quick squeeze, "Better?"

"Mmm hmm."

Wilma closed her eyes again and started to drift off but after a few minutes her eyes popped open and she sat up, "Buck! Did you leave Simmons in your quarters?"

"Damn! I forgot all about her!"

Buck sighed and pulled Wilma down next to him again, "There's nothing I can do about it now. I'm sure she's collecting her winnings already."

"What?"

"I'll explain later. Go to sleep."

Wilma closed her eyes again, her breathing became slow and regular and she drifted off to sleep. Buck propped himself up on his elbow and smiled down at her. He lifted his hand and gently moved a stray hair off of her face, "The thing is…" he mumbled softly to himself, "What is the situation between the two of us Colonel Wilma Deering?"

Buck stayed that way for a few minutes watching Wilma sleep and then with a sigh he settled down next to her his eyes wide open.

* * *

_One hour later…_

Buck woke to find Wilma kissing his neck. She looked different than she had earlier, she had on makeup and a negligee, and her hair was messed up in the way that made her look sexy instead of rumbled. She was sitting next to him on her bunk leaning over him.

"Wilma, what…" Buck tried to sit up but she put her hands on his shoulders and kept him down.

"Wilma, what are you doing?"

She spoke in a husky whisper, "Settling a bet."

"What?"

She bit off his top button and kissed his chest, "I bet that we would become closer tonight Captain Rogers" she worked her way down to the next button, "much" another button, "much," the last button, "closer."

"Wilma!"

She moved his shirt out of her way and ran her hands over his chest, "Don't act so innocent Buck. Why else would I lore you here in the middle of the night? Let you get in bed with me as if we do that all the time? Don't fight it Buck you want this as much as I do."

She kissed his neck again, "It's what you want…"

She kissed his chest, "It's what you've always wanted…"

She continued kissing his chest working her way lower and down his stomach, "But you've been too afraid to get close." She started undoing his belt, "Don't be afraid, Buck, it's what we both want."

"Wilma!" This time he succeeded in sitting up. He took hold of her shoulders and pulled her toward him, suddenly he was kissing her like he'd never kissed her before, his hands were in her hair, he …

woke up.

Buck sat up and looked around. Wilma stirred slightly in her sleep. Buck turned and sat on the side of her bunk catching his breath. After a few minutes he got up and walked stiffly toward the door. Halfway there he stopped and looked back at Wilma, "No, I said I'd stay..."

He walked over to her couch and dropped down on to it, "…but for both our sakes I better crash over here."

* * *

_Four hours later:_

Wilma ran down the corridor trying to pull her hair into a fastener. She almost bumped into Admiral Asimov who was coming the other way with Lieutenant Devlin.

Admiral Asimov looked at his watch in surprise, "Colonel! Weren't you supposed to be on the bridge ten minutes ago?"

"I'm on my way!" Wilma ran past him and shouted back, "I'm sorry, Admiral, I overslept! It won't happen again!"

Still looking surprised the Admiral said to Devlin, "It's not like Colonel Deering to…"

He stopped talking as the two of them turned the corner and saw Buck leaving Wilma's quarters and heading quickly in the other direction.

Once Buck was out of sight the Admiral grinned, "Well, Lieutenant Devlin, I believe you owe me ten credits."


	9. Ch9- Practice

_Takes place a few days after "The Hand of the Goral"_

Wilma came out of her bathroom wearing a robe. Buck was standing outside the bathroom door with his back pressed against the wall. When she went by he grabbed her from behind with one arm, with his free hand he pushed her robe out of the way and kissed her on the shoulder.

Wilma had thrown him to the floor and had a laser pistol trained on him before she realized who it was. Her expression changed to one of surprise, "Buck! What…? I thought you were out on patrol."

He grinned up at her, "You didn't scream."

"What?" She put down her laser pistol and kneeled down next to Buck.

He sat up wincing, "You didn't know it was me right? You didn't freeze, you didn't scream, you didn't grab your cloths." As he spoke Bucks eyes moved briefly to Wilma's robe. The belt had loosened and the robe was open slightly at the front down to her waist. It seemed to cost Buck some effort to bring his eyes back to her face.

She glanced down at herself but did not fix her robe, "You're right. But what are you doing here? Why aren't you on patrol?"

"I switched with Hawk so I could take you by surprise. I figured it was the only way to test your reflexes in a real life situation. Now you know how you'll respond when you don't think you're safe."

She smiled "I guess I do. It was kind of risky though wasn't it?"

"Nah, you never kill anyone if you don't have to." He stretched flexing his back, "Of course I didn't realize how much harder you would throw me if you didn't know it was me."

Wilma studied his face for a few moments and then said seriously, "Thank you."

"No problem. Are you going on duty now?"

"No I have a couple of hours."

"I'm free for a couple of hours too. Do you want to practice some more throws?"

"Not just yet. As long as I have you down here Captain there's something else I would like to practice."

"What's th…?"

Buck's question was cut off as Wilma leaned forward and kissed him. At first Buck returned her kiss with equal passion but when she started to undo his shirt he took her hands, stopping her, and pulled away, "Wilma, I don't think this is a good idea."

"I'm sorry." Wilma pulled her robe around herself more snuggly and tightened her belt. She didn't meet Bucks eyes as she spoke, "Lately I …I thought I sensed… something but I was wrong. It won't happen again." She stood, "I'll get dressed."

Buck stood up quickly, "No, don't do that."

She raised her eyebrows looking at him quizzically.

"I just want to talk to you for a minute." He gestured to the couch and they both sat at opposite ends.

"Buck you don't have to say anything. If you're not interested, you're not, it's fine."

"It's not that I'm not interested. Look, Wilma you weren't wrong. I'm attracted to you. I mean who wouldn't be?"

"But?"

"But, where would it lead?"

"Where would it _lead_? I don't understand, you've been with a lot of women, when have you ever been concerned about where things will lead?"

"It's different with you."

"Why?"

"Because it's _you_! With you it would mean something."

"And that scares you?"

"No it… Alright, I guess it does, a little. I told you when I first got to this century that I didn't want to put down roots here."

"I remember."

"I've already gotten closer to you than I ever intended to.

"Wilma, I don't know if you can understand this but I lost everyone I cared about. I've learned to live with that, I had to, but I don't want to go through it again. And you aren't exactly in the safest line of work, for most of the time I've known you we've been risking our lives at least once a week. If I get any closer to you and then anything happens… I mean this assignment isn't too dangerous but…" he shrugged.

Wilma swallowed and blinked several times, "I do understand, Buck. I realize I haven't been through what you have but I know what it's like to lose people you love, not to want to feel that grief again, to love someone like that again.

"Ironically…" her voice cracked and she cleared her throat before continuing, "Ironically you're the one who taught me not to be afraid of my feelings, not to be afraid to care for someone. You taught me that, shutting yourself off, from people, from your feelings, that's no way to live Buck."

"Maybe not but it's the only way I can keep going."

Wilma nodded.

Buck spoke again, "I never wanted to hurt you."

"I know. Buck, I'd like to be alone right now."

"Wilma, your friendship means I lot to me. I don't want to lose that."

"You won't. I just need some time. Please, Buck, just go."

He signed, "Yea, OK."

He got up and walked to the door. He looked back at Wilma who was sitting with her back to him. He looked like he was about to say something, changed his mind, and left.

* * *

_Several hours later. _

Wilma sat behind the control station on the bridge her shift was almost over. Admiral Asimov entered, "Buck didn't report anything unusual from his patrol did he? He seemed upset when he got back."

She answered under her breath, "Good."

"What?"

"Everything was good, all routine."

Admiral Asimov gave her a penetrating look, "Wilma, is anything wrong?"

"No."

He lowered his voice, "If there was I hope you would feel like you could talk to me."

"Thank you Admiral, I appreciate that." She forced a smile, "But I'm fine, really, just a little tired."

* * *

Buck sat at a table eating with Lieutenant Devlin and Lieutenant Martin. Wilma entered the mess and Buck looked up at her hopefully. She ordered a beverage and left with it without ever looking at him. Buck's shoulders dropped.

* * *

_A short time later._

Wilma sat alone in her quarters. A chime went off letting her know someone was at the door, "Come in."

Buck entered, "I know you probably don't want to talk to me yet but I need your help."

Wilma stood and moved toward him, "What is it?"

"I don't want to be afraid."

Wilma took him in her arms. He nestled his face against her hair. They stood that way for a long time.

* * *

_Twelve hours later_

Buck, Wilma and Hawk sat eating breakfast. Twiki stood at the table with them. Buck and Wilma kept exchanging smiles when they thought no one was looking.

Wilma stood, "I better go I'm on duty soon."

Buck looked up at her, "I'll see you later for practice?"

"Mmm hmm."

Buck watched her walk away. He was smiling when he turned back to Hawk and Twiki. Hawk was studying him looking smug and Twiki was holding his head at a slight angle as if he was studying Buck as well.

Buck looked quickly from one to the other, "_What_?"

Hawk answered, "You human's make everything so complicated. I am surprised your race has expanded as quickly as it has if you all take so long to choose a mate."

"What makes you think…?"

"It is obvious." Hawk stood up to leave, "If you will excuse me, I have a transaction to complete with Dr. Goodfellow before I go out on patrol."

Buck looked at him in surprise then turned back to Twiki. Twiki was turning to leave.

"Where are _you_ going?"

"To find Crichton, Bidi-bidi-bidi, he owes me ten credits!"

* * *

_Takes place several hours after Testimony of a Traitor _

Wilma entered her quarters. Buck was sitting on the couch.

"Buck! I've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry. I was waiting for you here."

"Are you OK? You snuck out of your own party." She came up behind him, leaned over, put her arms around him, and kissed him on the cheek, "Are you still upset about the trial?"

"It's not that." Buck picked up her photo and turned on the anti surveillance device.

Wilma came around and sat next to him, "What is it?"

"This" he handed her the petition the crew members had all signed supporting him.

"I don't understand."

"All these people believed in me, supported me, and I'm here to spy on them."

Wilma took his hand, "I know. It's hard for me too but, we have to remember, if there really is a threat to earth here most, if not all, of these people could be in danger as well."

"Yea, I know." He put his arm around her pulling her closer, "It's just hard sometimes."

"I know."

They sat silently for a few minutes and then Buck said, "Speaking of people believing in me, I never really thanked you for your support. You risked your career for me, maybe your life."

Wilma laughed.

"What?"

"Buck, I've been doing that since we met!"

Buck turned to her in surprise, "I guess you have. I never really…"

She shook her head, "It was the right thing to do."

After a brief pause she spoke again, "Buck, I was going to wait until things settled down to tell you this but I talked to Dr. Huer a few hours ago."

Buck looked curious and Wilma continued, "Once he learned about your trial Dr. Theoplis started looking into the case trying to find something to help you.

"He did? I take it he didn't find anything."

"No, but he did learn who turned the videocassette over to the Alliance Judiciary Council in the first place. It was Counselor Apol."

"The Quad who handled my prosecution when I first came to earth? Why would he have anything to do with artifacts from the 20th century?"

"He wouldn't unless he was specifically investigating that time period in an attempt to find something to use against you."

"Talk about being a sore loser. Do Huer and Theo really think he would bother looking for something against me after all this time?"

"Apol is one of the members of the council who has argued most adamantly against humans taking more responsibility for running earth. He was also one of the biggest advocates for the Searcher but he was not so happy to learn you would be part of the crew. Dr. Huer thinks he wanted to get you out of the way."

"Hmm, if he went to all that trouble to get me off the Searcher maybe there is something to Dr. Huer's suspicions. I was beginning to wonder, we've been on the Searcher a long time and nothing has happened that could threaten earth and least not anything the computer council could have been connected with. Did Theo learn anything else that could help us?"

Wilma shook her head, "No and there's no evidence of Counselor Apol having any kind of contact with the Searcher with humans or otherwise."

"So I guess we continue to keep our eyes open."

"It's all we can do at this point." she patted him on the leg, "Shall we get back to your party? People are going to wonder what happened to you."

Buck grinned, "After the way you kissed me today they'll probably just think I snuck off with you."

Wilma didn't return his smile, "I probably shouldn't have done that. Do you think I made it too obvious that we're…" she made a vague sort of hand gesture.

"Actually that's something I wanted to talk to you about." He took his arm off her shoulders and turned to face her. "I'd like to stop. I mean it was kind of fun in the beginning but it's getting a little old. Don't you think?"

Wilma looked hurt for a moment but quickly changed her expression to a neutral one. She kept her voice even, betraying no emotion, as she answered, "Oh, well, if you want to stop we'll stop."

"If you think we should keep doing it I don't really mind. I just don't think we need to."

She shifted a few inches away from him, "No, not if it isn't what you want."

"I mean most people have probably guessed anyway and it can only help the mission to give us an excuse to be alone together."

"The mission? Buck, what are you talking about?"

"Keeping our relationship a secret. I don't see the point. I mean, it's not like we need to make some big announcement but…"

Wilma laughed in relief and Buck asked, "What did you think I was talking about?"

"I thought you wanted to end the relationship."

"How could you think _that_? You know how I feel about you!"

"No."

"What?"

"No, I don't know how you feel about me. You've never told me."

Buck frowned, "Do I really have to spell it out?"

"Only if you want me to know."

"Well alright," he looked away speaking quickly, "I love you… so…so now you know."

Wilma moved closer to him and took his face in her hands, gently turning his head until he was looking at her. She smiled, "Now I know." She kissed him.

It was several minutes before Wilma's lips were free again and she could whisper, "I love you too."

"Well then," Buck smiled mischievously pulling her closer, "I say let's give 'em something to talk about."

* * *

_A/N: Many thanks to those who have reviewed! _


	10. Ch10- Headaches

_Takes place a few weeks after The Dorian Secret_

Buck and Hawk walked out of the shuttle. They were in the middle of a field next to a dirt road.

Hawk looked around, "I thought someone was meeting us here in a land vehicle."

Buck checked his watch, "I guess they're late."

"Perhaps if we start walking we will meet them along the way."

"I wouldn't mind a chance to stretch my legs. It has been a while since we've been on a planet."

They started off down the road.

* * *

_A short time later_

Buck and Hawk stood in the middle of a deserted settlement. Buck rubbed his forehead, as if he had a headache, saying, "This can't be the place. It looks like a ghost town."

"Something is wrong here. Rygla 2 is supposed to have an abundance of wild life but there are no sounds."

Wilma's voice came over Buck's communicator, "Buck, is anything wrong? The delegation on Rygla 2 is saying you haven't arrived yet."

"We're at the right coordinates but there's no delegation here. As a matter of fact it doesn't look like anyone has been here for a very long time."

Back on the bridge of The Searcher Admiral Asimov was standing behind Wilma and leaned forward to talk to Buck, "There must be some mistake Rygla 2 has a thriving settlement. Transmit your coordinates to Wilma."

Bucks voice came over the communications system, "Transmitting now."

Wilma looked at the readings, "These are the right coordinates. Maybe there's a problem with their instruments. I'm going to run a trace on the shuttle."

The admiral nodded and Wilma pushed some buttons, "Here's the problem, Buck, you are the wrong planet!"

"How could we be on the wrong planet?"

"I don't know but you are on Rygla 1."

The Admiral turned to Crichton, "Crichton what information do you have on Rygla 1?"

"Rygla 1 is a quarantined planet, it was originally settled…"

"Never mind when it was settled! Quarantined for what?"

"EL 20."

"EL 20!?" The Admiral had turned pale.

Wilma spoke quickly into the communicator, "Buck, Hawk, you need to get back to the shuttle as quickly as possible! We'll give you further instructions when you get there."

She turned off the communicator and spoke to Lieutenant Devlin, "Devlin alert sick bay to set up quarantine procedures and let Dr. Goodfellow know he may need to work on a treatment that will account for their different body chemistries." Her voice had a tone of command and Devlin obeyed her without thinking.

Wilma continued "I'll go down to the shuttle bay to supervise setting up a decontamination area." She turned to leave and then checked herself, "With your permission Admiral?"

Admiral Asimov looked startled, "Yes, of course, I'll… I'll let them know you're coming."

Wilma was out the door by the time he finished talking.

* * *

Hawk and Buck reached the shuttle. Hawk was supporting Buck, practically dragging him. He pulled Buck into the shuttle, strapped him in, and spoke into his communicator, "Wilma we are here."

"We're ready for you. How are you both doing?"

"Buck is very ill. I am still well enough to pilot the shuttle."

"Once you clear the planet's atmosphere turn over your controls and we'll pull you in."

"Understood." Hawk started the engines. As he worked he rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache.

* * *

Wilma stood outside the decontamination area watching as Buck and Hawk were removed from the shuttle and placed in containment pods by people in Hazmat outfits. Buck was unconscious and Hawk seemed very week.

Admiral Asimov came up behind her, "I've been talking to Dr. Goodfellow. It seems that it's worse to catch the virus from another person than from a contaminated area. He says the virus mutates and becomes stronger as it is passed from person to person. In previous outbreaks the people who contacted it first were most likely to survive especially if they were treated quickly."

Wilma gave a curt nod but didn't say anything.

"Dr. Goodfellow has already created a serum. He believes he'll be able to administer in time for it to be effective."

"Buck's body chemistry is slightly different and we don't know how the virus will affect Hawk."

"By acting so quickly you've given them the best possible chance. You showed real leadership today. You must be getting better."

Wilma looked worried, "Admiral if I've overstepped my authority…"

He shook his head cutting her off, "Under the circumstances I understand. I've been thinking we should talk later about your taking on more responsibility. If you think you're…"

They were interrupted by Twiki approaching Wilma and handing her a hazmat suit, "Bidi-bidi-bidi here you go Wilma."

"Thank you Twiki."

Admiral Asimov frowned, "Why do you need a…? Wilma, you aren't thinking of entering the quarantine area. We have enough people in there."

"I'd like to examine the shuttle, see if I can find out what went wrong with the navigational system."

"That can be done after decontamination is complete."

"But if there's evidence of sabotage it could be erased before…"

"Sabotage?! Do you have any _reason_ to think someone would sabotage the shuttle?"

"I…"

The Admiral's tone softened, "Wilma, I think I know what this is about."

"Oh?"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. His tone was slightly condescending, "You want to feel like you're doing something. But you've already done everything possible, you've done very well, it's up to Dr. Goodfellow now. There's nothing to be accomplished by your checking the shuttle before it's safe I can't allow you to do it."

When Wilma looked like she was about to protest he continued, "Do I need to make this an order?"

"No sir."

"Good" He patted her on the shoulder and took the suite from her before walking away.

Wilma watched him leave and then knelt down to talk quietly to Twiki, "Twiki, I know you're worried about Buck but I need you to do something for me."

* * *

_A few hours later_

Wilma stood outside of sickbay. Lieutenant Paulton was speaking to her, "Captain Rogers hasn't woken up yet but we're hopeful that he'll respond to the treatment and Hawk is doing better, he's been awake for brief periods. I'll keep you posted on any new developments."

"Thank you."

* * *

_eight hours later_

Wilma was still outside of sickbay she was sitting in a chair and had dozed off.

Crichton came up to her and spoke much more loudly than necessary to wake her, "Dr. Goodfellow sent me to give you an update."

Wilma had woken instantly, "Yes, what can you tell me?"

"There has been no change in Captain Rodgers' status since your _last_ update."

"Oh."

"If you want to visit captain Rogers wear this." He handed her a mask, "Human's are _so fragile_."

"I can see him?"

"_I_ see _no reason_ for you to speak to an _unconscious_ human but _Dr. Goodfellow_ seems to think it would do him good to hear your voice. At least it will save the time of bringing you these _pointless_ updates."

"But I can see him? All I need is this mask?"

"_Colonel Deering_ if you are unable to comprehend _simple_ information nothing will be achieved by _my_ repeating it." He rolled away his complaints about the inferiority of humans fading as he turned the corner.

Wilma looked like she was about to call out after him but stopped herself, shrugged, and put on the mask.

Most of the sick bay personnel were on a sleep cycle and no one was around when Wilma entered the quarantine area. She entered the room where Hawk was sleeping and Buck was still lying unconscious. She went up to buck and stroked his cheek speaking to him softly so she wouldn't wake Hawk. After a while she pulled a chair up next to his bed and sat holding his hand. With her free hand she rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache.

Hawk woke up half an hour later. Wilma was standing next to Buck whipping his forehead. Hawk tried to sit up and moaned. Wilma moved quickly to his side, "Hawk is there anything I can do?"

His eyes popped open, "Wilma! We are supposed to be under quarantine!"

Wilma's speech was slightly slurred, "That's why I'm wearing a mask."

"Everyone else who has entered has been wearing a hazmat suite."

"But…"she fainted before she could finish speaking.


	11. Ch11- Waking Up

Buck opened his eyes. Hawk was leaning over him, "Do not try to sit up. How do you feel?"

Buck grimaced, "Like I've just been… Hawk, I don't even have a metaphor for how badly I feel."

"It is just a well. I never understand your metaphors."

Buck smiled and then winced at the pain. Hawk spoke again, "Buck there is something you should know. Wilma is here. She has been infected."

"**What**?! "

Buck tried to sit up but Hawk put his hands on his shoulders to stop him, "Trust me you do not want to do that. Dr. Goodfellow has just started Wilma's treatment she is likely to be unconscious for some time."

"Yea, OK, he turned his head so that he could see Wilma in the bed next to him. Will she be alright?"

"There is every reason to think she will be."

Buck closed his eyes for a few minutes, taking deep breaths, "I don't understand…how did…how did Wilma get infected?"

"She entered the quarantine area. I do not know why. She was wearing a mask and seemed to have the impression it was enough."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"No, it does not but we are unlikely to learn anything until Wilma can talk to us."

"Yea," He closed his eyes again, "How are you?"

"I am week but much recovered."

"Good…Hawk? Could you get me some water?"

"Of course."

When Hawk moved away Buck tried to sit up, "**AAAaaahhhhHH**!" he fell back down into his bead shaking.

"I did warn you."

* * *

_Twelve hours later_

Wilma opened her eyes. Buck was sitting beside her, "Don't try to sit up. You gave me quite a scare you know."

She gave him a week smile and answered softly, "Now you know how I usually feel."

"Well, if you wanted to teach me a lesson you were a little extreme."

Wilma looked around without moving her head, "I've been infected?"

"Yes," He took her hand, "but you're going to be OK."

"How did I get infected?"

"You came in here with only a mask on. Don't you remember?"

"I…" Her brow furrowed in concentration. Then her eyes widened in surprise, "No…I…I don't remember" as she spoke she squeezed his hand twice, "I love you," one squeeze.

Buck gave her a small almost imperceptible nod. "Well don't worry it's probably not important," two squeezes, "I love you too," one squeeze.

He leaned forward and kissed her, then put his cheek against hers so that his ear was near her lips.

She spoke softly so that only Buck could hear, "Crichton …told me I…could enter with…mask."

Buck answered her just as softly "How could Crichton make a mistake like that?"

"Should be… impossible."

"Maybe he did it on purpose?"

Wilma tried to shake her head and stopped looking pained, "First law…"

"First law of Robotics, I know. Not much we can do about it until we get out of here."

Buck kissed her cheek and straightened up checking his watch. "You've been awake long enough to have a pain shot. Do you want it?"

"Yes."

Buck gave her the shot and stood stroking her head, "Try to get some rest and don't worry too much about…anything."

"Shouldn't you be resting too?"

"Well, since you took Hawk's bed he and I are sleeping in shifts."

Wilma turned her head enough so that she could see Hawk asleep in the bed next to her, "Sorry, want me to scootch over?"

He smiled, "No, you don't want to move at all for the next several hours. _Trust me_."

Wilma closed her eyes and Buck sat back down holding her hand.

* * *

_One day later_

Buck and Hawk sat facing each other at the feet of the beds. Buck was teaching Hawk to thumb wrestle, "OK, one, two, three…"

Hawk trapped Buck's thumb under his own, "I win."

"That's cheating! We didn't declare a thumb war yet."

"It is a better strategy to attack without warning."

"That's not how it works. You have to declare a thumb war, otherwise it's cheating."

Hawk looked thoughtful, "Are you saying that it is a matter of honor?"

"No it… well yea I guess it is."

"Very well, but what is the purpose of counting to four?"

"Hawk it's just a game."

Hawk agreed to try things Buck's way and the two of them started their game. Wilma sat propped up on the other end of Buck's bed watching them with amusement. Bucks face was full of boyish delight while Hawk's expression was one of total concentration. They were evenly matched and had been thumb wrestling for a while when Dr. Goodfellow entered the room.

Dr. Goodfellow wasn't wearing any protective gear and Buck looked up at him hopefully. Hawk had not broken his concentration and quickly pinned Buck's thumb, "I win."

Buck smiled rolling his eyes, "Dr. Goodfellow you had _better_ have some good news for us!"

"Oh I do, dear boy, I do, you see, your last blood tests confirm that you are no longer contagious."

"Does this mean we can blow this pop joint?"

"Only if you all promise me, _promise_ me, that you'll rest in your quarters, you are all still week from the virus. Just because you aren't sick doesn't mean you're fully recovered."

Buck stood up, "You can walk us to our quarters yourself and tuck us in Doctor."

"Well, I don't need to…"

Buck threw his arm around Dr. Goodfellow's shoulders and dragged him along. Hawk and Wilma followed. Dr. Goodfellow stuttered, "Oh, well, I, very well."

The four of them walked to Wilma's quarters and entered. Once they were inside Wilma activated the anti-surveillance device. Hawk stood in front of the door. Buck turned to Dr. Goodfellow, "Have a seat Doctor."

Dr. Goodfellow's eyes darted between the three of them, "What's going on."

Wilma took a seat across from him, "Dr. Goodfellow, did Crichton have any reason to think it was safe for me to enter the quarantine area?"

"Of course not, what are you talking about? Crichton knows everything about EL20 that it's possible to know."

"Did you tell him you wanted Buck to hear my voice?"

"Oh, yes, yes I did, you see, I told Crichton I wanted him to set up communications so that Buck could hear your voice."

Wilma frowned, "Crichton told me to put on a mask if I wanted to see Buck, he said you thought it would help Buck to hear my voice."

"That's impossible, dear girl, quite impossible, you must be confused, you're still week from the virus you aren't remembering properly."

"She's not confused," Buck sat down next to Wilma taking her hand, "Wilma wouldn't have entered the quarantine area without a good reason, not unless she thought it was safe."

Wilma gave Buck a grateful smile. Buck addressed Dr. Goodfellow again, "Is there any way Crichton could have overcome the first law of robotics and sent Wilma in there purposely?"

"My dear boy, his programming would never allow it!"

Hawk spoke from the doorway, "Could not someone have reprogrammed him?"

"It would take someone more skilled than I am to do such a thing. But why would they, why would anyone want her to catch EL20?"

Buck sighed, "We haven't figured that out yet."

Dr. Goodfellow spoke as if to himself, "We did learn quite a bit about the way the virus mutates from the samples we got from Colonel Deering. We were able to duplicate it in the lab… "

Buck leaned forward, "What do you mean duplicate it in the lab?"

"It's very technical, no offense but, I don't think you would understand."

"Give it a try."

Dr. Goodfellow gave it a try. When he finished talking they all starred at him looking shocked. Finally Buck spoke in a low voice, "Dr. Goodfellow you are developing a biological weapon."

Dr. Goodfellow shook his head, "No, no, I'm studying the possible mutations of the virus so that we can develop cures."

"But you're creating stronger versions of the virus, keeping them in you lab."

"They are contained."

"And what would happen," asked Hawk, "If their containment were compromised or if someone were to release the virus into the atmosphere of a planet."

"Well that… no one would do that."

"But if someone did," Buck pressed, "How long would it take for the mutated viruses you've developed to destroy most of the population of a planet."

Dr. Goodfellow suddenly looked defeated, "Not long at all." He said quietly, "It would be a matter of hours. Faster if human carriers were used."

Wilma kept her voice even, "Dr. Goodfellow can you destroy those viruses safely?"

"Yes, but what about the Admiral?"

"The Admiral? What does he have to do with it?"

"He has everything to do with it, dear girl, didn't I say? It was on the Admiral's orders that I was doing this research."

"The Admiral ordered this?"

"You're sure?" Buck asked, "Crichton had nothing to do with it?"

"Crichton? Oh no, he thought it was a waste of his time. I'll show you." Gesturing at Wilma's computer he asked, "May I?"

She nodded and Dr. Goodfellow logged into the computer, "You see this?"

Wilma leaned over him reading the screen. She turned to Buck, "This couldn't have been sent without the Admiral's security code, it's pretty technical for him though."

She turned back to Dr. Goodfellow, "Doctor we'll talk to the admiral, in the meantime you need to destroy those virus."

"You don't think I could keep just one do you? If I were very careful?"

All three of them answered, "No!"

"Oh, very well."

Dr. Goodfellow left the room and Wilma sat back down.

Once he was gone Buck said, "I still think Crichton is behind this. He could have gotten the admiral's security code and faked a message from him. Why else would he let you enter the quarantine area? Dr. Goodfellow said their work with the virus was based on your samples."

Hawk moved further into the room "Dr. Goodfellow also said it would take someone more skilled than he to interfere with Crichton's programming."

Buck looked at Wilma, "Like a member of the computer council?"

She sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose, "But Crichton has never had any contact with a member of the computer council. Dr. Goodfellow was already aboard the searcher when he built Crichton. I don't know. I can't believe the Admiral would do this either but that message was sent with top security, it would require a retinal scan in addition to the Admiral's code, it would be awfully difficult for someone to duplicate that. We need to question him."

"Shall we get him in here?"

Wilma stood "No I think…" she caught herself as if she were dizzy. Buck and Hawk moved quickly to support her.

She gently pulled away from them, "I'm OK"

"Wilma, Hawk and I can…"

"No, I'm OK." She opened a drawer, touched something to reveal a hidden compartment and pulled out an envelope, "I think it's time we told the Admiral why we are here."


	12. Ch12- A Broken Law

Buck, Hawk and Wilma walked down the hallway. Wilma glanced at Buck and said softly, "You had better talk to him first." Buck gave a quick nod as the door to the bridge slid open and the three of them walked through.

Admiral Asimov looked up and smiled, "Well, it's good to see you three back up on your feet! Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Buck kept his voice low," Can we speak to you in your office Admiral? It's important."

"Yes, all right. Lieutenant Devlin you have the bridge."

The Admiral led the way into his office. He was halfway to his desk when the door closed behind them and Wilma stopped him, her voice like steel, "That's far enough Admiral."

"What?" he turned and saw the three of them pointing laser pistols at him, "What in the name of…this is mutiny!"

"It's not mutiny." Wilma holstered her pistol and handed him an envelope, "I have signed orders here from Dr. Huer."

Buck and Hawk continued to keep their pistol's trained on the admiral as he automatically took the envelope from Wilma. He frowned, "Dr. Huer wouldn't have any authority here unless…"

"Unless he has reason to believe there is a threat to earth."

"But…"

"Why don't you read that, Admiral? It will explain everything."

Nodding he opened the envelop and read its contents, his face growing more grave, "Wil…Colonel Deering do you what is in these orders?"

"Yes I do."

"I don't understand. If Dr. Huer thought there were a threat to earth aboard the searcher why wouldn't he talk to _me_ about it?"

Wilma didn't reply and the Admiral spoke again, "He didn't know if he could trust me."

Wilma's voice was gentler now, "It's nothing personal, he didn't have a choice."

"I thought I was doing him a favor. You aren't really here to recover are you?"

"Yes and no. I'm sorry."

"My record is spotless."

"There's no reason for that to change."

The Admiral stared at Wilma a moment before asking in a defeated voice, "What do you need me to do?"

* * *

Dr. Goodfellow entered his lab and started to put on a hazmat suit.

"_What are you doing Doctor?"_ asked a harsh mechanical voice.

"Hmmm? oh, I have to destroy these samples. Since you here you can help me. Get me…"

"_I can't let you do that Doctor."_

"What? What are you talking about?" He turned around, "What are doing with…"

A laser fire hit Dr. Goodfellow and he fell to the ground."

* * *

A short time later the Admiral sat staring at his computer screen his face pale, "I don't even understand half of this."

Buck spoke, "Wilma, I believe him."

She nodded, "So do I." Buck and Hawk lowered their weapons.

The Admiral barely noticed he continued to stare at the screen shaking his head. "These reports from Dr. Goodfellow… no one should have something like this…"

"Admiral, who else could have sent these messages to Dr. Goodfellow?"

He shook his head, "No one, these messages were all sent with top security, but I didn't even know all this was here!"

Buck started to ask "What about…?"

When he was interrupted by Devlin's voice over the intercom, "Admiral we're losing oxygen on the Bridge!"

"What!?"

The Admiral quickly moved to the door to the bridge but it wouldn't open, "It's sealed it's self off!"

"Wilma spoke into the intercom," We'll have to come around the long way Devlin we're on the way!"

The four of them ran out the other door into the corridor and around to the bridge. By the time they got there Devlin and several crew members were in the corridor.

Devlin spoke breathing heavily "We had to…evacuate...not enough..."

"You did the right thing Devlin." The Admiral assured him.

Buck nodded, "What happens when no one's on the bridge? Does control transfer to another part of the ship?"

"No," answered the Admiral, "some of us will need to get space suits on and get back in there quickly!"

Devlin was recovering, "It's OK, Crichton is in there."

Buck, Hawk and Wilma exchanged a quick glance and Hawk tried to open the door, "It has sealed its self. Just like the door in the Admiral's office."

A voice came over the intercom, "Admiral Asimov, we are losing oxygen in the engine room!"

* * *

Admiral Asimov stood in the corridor wearing a space suite, holding the helmet in his hand, and talking into the intercom to Crichton, "Listen you overgrown tea kettle! If you don't let me on to the bridge…"

"As I've already explained _Admiral Asimov_, it would be unsafe for a _human_ to enter the bridge until breathable air is restored."

"I don't _need_ breathable air, if I'm wearing a space suite you useless pile of junk!"

"All space suites are located in storage area 17 which is also without oxygen. I must therefore conclude you do not have access to a space suite and deny you access to the bridge until breathable air is restored. I cannot allow a human being to come to harm."

"And _I tell you_ I'm _WEARING_ a space suite! I had it in my quarters!"

"I have no record of a space suite in your quarters. I must therefore conclude you do not have access to a space suite and deny you access to the bridge until breathable air is restored. I cannot allow a human being to come to harm."

"Crichton I'm _warning_ you!"

Buck came around the corner, "There you are Admiral. How's it going?"

"How's it _going_!? We've lost oxygen everywhere except the crew quarters, the corridors and the mess and this…this…_ridicules robot _won't let me onto my own bridge!"

Buck's cheerfulness sounded forced, "Well, I'm sure Crichton is doing everything possible. There's not much we can do until he fixes the probelm."

He shot the Admiral a significant look but the Admiral missed it and sputtered, "You're sure Crichton is…you do realize Dr. Goodfellow is missing? And his lab is also without oxygen. I'd think you'd be a little more concerned after what you and Colonel…"

Buck threw his arm around the Admiral's shoulders, steering him down the corridor and spoke loudly to cut him off, "You need to relax a little Admiral. Come join us for a drink in Wilma's quarters."

He leaned forward and hissed into the Admiral's ear, "_Play along I'll explain later!"_

The Admiral looked utterly confused but managed to utter, "Yes, alright, I suppose I could use a drink."

* * *

Buck opened the door to Wilma's quarters. Wilma, Hawk, Lieutenant Devlin and Lieutenant Martin were already inside.

The Admiral paused in the doorway, "We should all go to my quarters. There's more room."

Buck pushed the Admiral into the room and shut the door. After a quick glance to make sure the anti-surveillance was turned on he said, "Admiral, we have Wilma's quarters wired so we can keep anyone from listening in on our conversations."

The Admiral looked surprised and then sighed, "I guess that shouldn't surprise me."

Lieutenant Devlin turned to Buck, "So when you come to Colonel Deering's quarters it's only so you can talk about your mission?"

Buck gave him a sheepish smile, "Well, it's not the _only_ reason I come here."

Wilma interrupted, "You can settle your bets later. Admiral, I've briefed Devlin and Martin on Buck's and my mission. We think the current situation is related."

The Admiral took a seat, "How so?"

Wilma glanced at Buck and he picked up the explanation, "Admiral we think Crichton is behind everything, we think he sabotaged the shuttle so that Hawk and I would catch EL20, Wilma had Twiki check the shuttle but he didn't find any problems."

The Admiral interrupted "But if he didn't find any problems, what makes you suspect sabotage?"

"He didn't find _any_ problems. There should have been evidence of a malfunction. Unless someone removed that evidence before Twiki got there. Also Crichton told Wilma she could enter the quarantine area, so we know he's no longer controlled by the first law of Robotics. Since Wilma caught the virus from me or Hawk it was already a mutated version, it worked faster on her than in other reported cases. And then there's the work Dr. Goodfellow's been doing. Who else could have faked your security clearance and sent those messages?"

The Admiral shook his head, "What you're suggesting is impossible!"

Hawk, who until now had been observing the conversation in silence, said, "I do not understand why people keep declaring this to be impossible. If a robot can be programmed to follow a law why is it difficult to believe it could be programmed to break a law?"

"But Hawk you don't realize the skill level necessary for something like that, it would require a genius like Dr. Goodfellow or…"

Buck finished his sentence, "Or a member of the computer council."

"Buck, this is getting more and more absurd!"

Wilma spoke again, "I know it's a lot to take in. But Dr. Huer has reason to believe that some members of the computer council are plotting against the humans on earth."

The Admiral jumped to his feet "Has Dr. Huer taken leave of his _**senses**_?!"

"Admiral…"

"Colonel Deering! I know you and Buck have your orders but _I'm_ responsible for this ship! I can't risk the safety of this crew on some wild…"

"Admiral!" Wilma's voice had an edge of impatience to it. "If we're wrong there's no risk. Crichton will fix the problem and Buck and I will be responsible for our actions. If we're right your crew is in danger. Do you really want to spend any more time debating this?"

"No" the Admiral suddenly looked defeated and sank into a chair, "What do you need from me?"

Wilma nodded, "We have people looking for Dr. Goodfellow but unless we find him and he tells us otherwise, we'll have to assume he wasn't able to destroy the viruses before something happened to him. We'll do everything possible to protect the crew but we can't let Crichton bring this virus back to earth."

The Admirals eyes widened as the impact of her words sunk in.

Lieutenant Martin cleared his throat nervously, "Colonel Deering, there's one thing I don't understand."

Buck smiled, "Just one?"

Martin continued, "If Crichton's part of some plot against human's why are we still alive?"

"We aren't sure. It may be that as long as we don't interfere he doesn't care or he could be planning to use us as carriers for the virus, in which case he would have to wait to give it to us until the last minute so we don't die too soon. We can't let him know we suspect anything or he could turn off life support everywhere and Admiral we may need you to convince Crichton that you want to evacuate most of the crew while he works on the problem. If he wants us as carriers he only needs a couple of us."

"But even if he lets us evacuate we're in deep space."

Wilma picked up the picture and opened the back turning to Lieutenant Devlin who looked at her in surprise, "A subspace transmitter?"

"Yes, see if you can raise any ships in the area. If you can find someone to help us, we'll need them to stay out of range, and then come and pick up the life pods once the Searcher is gone."

The Admiral's voice didn't even register surprise when he asked, "You have a subspace transmitter with a broader range than the searcher?"

While the others were talking Buck had picked up the helmet from the Admiral's space suite and was looking at it thoughtfully, "Admiral do we carry enough space suites for the entire crew?"

"Yes of course but they are all in storage, the air isn't breathable in there either."

"Yeah, but if I borrowed this, I could break into the storage area and get to them. It might buy us some time."

Hawk asked, "Might your breaking into a storage room not alert Crichton?"

"Maybe, but it's not like I'd be breaking into a critical part of the ship, if Crichton catches me I can say I was… well I'll come up with something and the Admiral here can pretend he didn't know anything about it. Crichton's use to me doing weird things."

Wilma sighed, "I don't know Buck it's risky."

"I know but Crichton could decide to turn off life support at any moment and we don't know how long it might take to find another ship, if he even agrees to the evacuation."

Wilma turned to the Admiral, "This deals directly with the safety of the crew. It's your call."

He only took a moment to consider before he started removing his space suite to give to Buck, "We'll try it. I only hope you all haven't overestimated my ability to convince Crichton of anything."

* * *

A short time after Buck left two crew members entered carrying an unconscious Dr. Goodfellow, "We found him hidden near the lab. We don't know how long he's been unconscious."

They laid him on Wilma's bunk and she gave him a shot. After a minute his eyes flew open and he tried to sit up looking panicked. Wilma put out an arm to restrain him. "It's ok Dr. you're safe now. Don't try to sit up right away."

Dr. Goodfellow grabbed her arm, "He shot me! The first Law of Robotics! It shouldn't be possible! He's dangerous!"

"Doctor it's OK, we know about Crichton."

"Crichton? What do you mean? I'm not talking about Crichton!"

* * *

Buck stood contemplating the door to storage area 17. He was wearing the space suite and was just about to put on the helmet when a harsh mechanical voice came from behind him, _"What are you up to Captain Rogers?"_

Buck turned quickly taking a defensive position before he saw who it was and relaxed, "Twiki! Where have you been? What's wrong with your voice?"

Twiki pointed a laser pistol at him, _"Is my new voice not cute enough for you? Never mind that. What are you doing? I don't want you poking around."_

Twiki fired the pistol but as he did his arm jerked, he missed Buck but disintegrated the helmet saying, "Beeety, Beeety"

"Twiki, what the…?"

Twiki moved closer and fired again. Again his arm jerked so that he missed shooting Buck, "_You will_…Beeety, Beeety Beeety, BUCK RUN! I Can't…" He fired again coming closer to hitting Buck this time.

"Twiki, it's me! We're _friends_! Twiki listen to me!"

Twiki hesitated, "Beeety…_I don't have friends_." He fired again still seeming to have trouble controlling his arm but almost hitting Buck this time. He fired again and Buck barely managed to jump out of the way, "Twiki!"

"Beeety…" He fired again, this time only hitting the ceiling as Wilma and Hawk came running toward them. Hawk fired at Twiki hitting him full on. Twiki fell backwards onto the floor."

"TWIKI!" Buck shouted dropping to Twiki's side, "Twiki! Can you hear me?"

There was no response. Buck turned accusingly to Hawk, "He was fighting it! You didn't have to shoot him! He was _**fighting**_ it!"

Hawk and Wilma only stared at him.


	13. Ch 13- Shadow's Tale

Buck and Hawk sat in Wilma's quarters watching Dr. Goodfellow work on Twiki. Twiki's face and front peace where off. He looked like a mass of wires and circuits.

"Can you fix him Doctor?" Buck asked.

Dr. Goodfellow spoke as he continued working, "I wish I had better tools but I think so. I hope to do better than fix him. You see, there was another program that was set up to override Twiki's programming under certain conditions."

"Like the Robot equivalent of multiple personality?"

"Yes, very much like that. When this 'personality' took over Twiki was probably unaware of it but I think when it actually tried to kill you, dear boy, that must have triggered something in Twiki so that both programs were running at once and Twiki was able to fight for control. Now, what I'm trying to do, is fix it so that Twiki will be in control but will have access to any information from this other program. Do you see?"

"So Twiki will be able to tell us what this 'other personality' has been up to."

"Exactly, dear boy, exactly!"

Hawk turned Dr. Goodfellow, "Is it safe to reactivate Twiki?"

"Do you see this?" Dr. Goodfellow asked him, "This connection right here, do you see it?"

Hawk nodded and Dr. Goodfellow continued, "This connection gives Twiki's positronic brain control over the rest of his body. If I leave this undone he'll be able to talk to us but he won't be able to move. I won't connect it until we know that we have our own little Twiki back."

"How will you determine that Twiki is in control?"

Buck answered without looking at Hawk, "I'll know if it's the real Twiki."

"How?"

Buck glowered at him answering sharply, "_I'll __**know**_!"

Hawk got up and walked to the other side of the room. He stood looking out a portal with his back to Buck.

Wilma, who had been standing nearby with the admiral came and sat next to Buck placing a hand on his arm. When Buck looked up at her she nodded in Hawk's direction saying softly, "Buck…"

"Yeah, I know, but Hawk doesn't understand. Twiki's my friend."

"Buck, _Hawk_ is your friend. Twiki's a robot."

Buck shook his head, "You _know_ he's not just a robot. He's different."

"He was _programmed_ to be different. Dr. Huer thought it would help you adjust if…"

As Buck's expression darkened she stopped and tried a different tactic, "Yes, ok, he's different, but Hawk and I had just learned it was Twiki who stunned Dr. Goodfellow to stop him destroying the samples…."

"That wasn't Twiki!" Buck interrupted, "Didn't you hear Doctor Goodfellow?"

"We know that _now_ but, when we caught up to you, all we saw was Twiki trying to kill you! If Hawk hadn't shot him I would have!"

Buck pulled his arm away his expression becoming even angrier.

Wilma looked him straight in the eye, "What would you have done, Buck?"

He crossed his arms looking away, "I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

After a moment his shoulders slumped, "Yea, alright if he'd been trying to kill you or Hawk I'd have done the same thing."

With a sigh he got up, walked over to Hawk and patted him on the back. The two of them spoke too softly for the others to hear but they both looked more relaxed.

* * *

Wilma, Buck, Hawk and Admiral Asimov sat at a table in her quarters looking at a printed schematic of the searcher design. "It's an early plan, things will have changed but it's the only thing I have that we can access without logging into the data base" the admiral told them. "Will it help?"

"It might" Buck answered, "It's better than flying blind."

"Thank you Admiral. It's lucky you saved this." Wilma added.

The Admiral looked pleased. As they were speaking Lt. Devlin had risen from where he'd been sitting working with the subspace transmitter and approached them. He looked quickly between Wilma and the Admiral as if unsure who to address. Buck solved it for him by asking, "You have news for us Devlin?"

"Yes, I've been able to reach a ship. They've agreed to help us." He looked worried, "It's a Draconian ship."

Wilma frowned, "Ardala."

"No, one of her sisters, Princess Dalena."

Hawk looked around the table taking in the worried expressions of the others, "Are you not at peace with the Draconians?"

"An uneasy peace." Wilma answered, "We don't trust each other."

"Some of us less than the other's." added Buck.

Wilma turned to the Admiral. He said, "I don't like the idea of putting the crew at the mercy of the Draconians."

"Neither do I. But the longer they are aboard the more danger they are in from Crichton."

"Yes you're right. We'll have to chance it." He rose and turned to Devlin, "Once I convince Crichton, if I convince Crichton, to let us evacuate the crew, you'll need to relay our coordinates to the Draconians. Make sure they understand they are not to approach and collect the life pods until the Searcher is out of range. "

"Yes Sir."

The Admiral turned leave but Wilma moved to intercept him, "There's one more thing Admiral."

"What's that."

"We need you to go with the crew."

"Go with the crew?! Now see here you can't order me off my own ship!"

"I know, but we can't let Crichton get this virus back to earth. If the two of us don't succeed you're the only one who can stop him."

It took a moment for what she was saying to sink in. The Admiral had lost all his bluster when he answered. "You want me to convince Princess Dalena to destroy the searcher. With the two of you still aboard."

"If it comes to that,yes."

"You don't ask much do you?"

"That's why it has to be you no one else is of a high enough rank to make it happen without starting a war."

"The Draconians will think it's a trick and if they don't Dr. Huer will."

"No he won't. I'm going to give you a code that will give you immediate access to Dr. Huer – no matter what he's doing. He'll know I wouldn't give it to you unless I had absolute confidence in you. He'll know it's not a trick or at least he'll give you time to explain."

"I see."

"Once you get aboard the Draconian ship you'll have to convince Princess Dalena to help us. You'll need to stay close enough to track the searcher but not close enough to worry Crichton. A draconian battle cruiser should be able to handle that. If you get within communication range of earth and you haven't heard from us you'll need to assume we've failed. Call Dr. Huer and give him the code, tell him what you are about to do and then destroy the Searcher."

A brief silence followed broken by Hawk saying, "Admiral I believe you meant with the three of us aboard."

Buck answered, "Hawk this isn't your fight."

"I choose to make it my fight."

"Hawk…"

"Human's built machine's which are now seeking to destroy them. There was a time I would have considered that justice. There was a time my only regret would have been that I did not have the opportunity to destroy the human's myself. I no longer feel this way. I no longer feel that genocide of any species is just. I would not desert the first human I learned to respect. I choose to make it my fight."

When no one argued Dr. Goodfellow spoke from where he'd be working on Twiki. "I should stay too. I could…"

"No!" the Admiral interrupted. "That I absolutely forbid. That's an order Doctor. Now I need to go talk to Crichton. If he doesn't agree to the evacuation everything we've talked about will be a mute point."

After he was gone Dr. Goodfellow turned to Wilma, "You could talk to him couldn't you Colonel?"

"I'm afraid not Doctor."

"But I could be of help. Don't you see? I know more than anyone about the mutated EL20 viruses."

"That's exactly why we can't risk it Doctor. If you were to catch the virus we'd be without hope."

"But…"

"No!"

Dr. Goodfellow looked a little stunned by her tone. He turned to Buck, "Captain Rogers surely you want me to stay and finish my work on Twiki."

"You'll have to do what you can before it's time to leave. If you can't get him fixed…"a brief look of pain crossed Buck's face, "If you can't get him fixed we'll have to complete the mission without him."

Wilma gave Buck's arm a sympatric squeeze. Dr. Goodfellow sighed in defeat, "The repair is complete. It will take him a couple of hours to reboot. You'll have to judge for yourselves whether it was successful."

* * *

_A short time later._

Buck, Wilma and Hawk watched as the last life pod was jettisoned from the searcher. "Well," said Buck, "I guess there's not much we can do until Crichton finishes the repair, shall we all go back to your quarter's Wilma?"

As soon as they entered her quarters Wilma turned on the antisurveillance. Twiki lay in the middle of the room. His face piece was back on but the front peace was still off exposing his wires and insides. Buck moved quickly to his side. "He should be rebooted by now. Twiki can you hear me?"

"Beeety, Beeety, Buck are you OK?"

"Yea, I'm fine Twiki thanks to you."

Wilma and Hawk exchanged a look but neither of them said anything.

"Beeety, Beeety, Beeety, I tried to stop him Buck."

"I know Twiki it's all OK now. We'll have you up and running in no time." Buck moved to hook up the connection Dr. Goodfellow had shown them.

Wilma and Hawk both opened their mouths to protest but Twiki spoke first, "BUCK NO!"

Buck stopped, "What's wrong?"

"Beeety Beeety Beeety, don't hook me up Buck, I don't know if I can control him."

Buck looked like he was about to protest but Wilma stopped him, "Twiki's right. We at least need to talk to him first."

"Yea, Ok," Buck yawned, "Twiki, Dr. Goodfellow said there was another program set up to override yours, he said he was trying to give you access to the information in that program. Can you tell us anything about it?"

Dr. Goodfellow had been successful and Twiki was able to give them information about the AI program called Shadow which counselor Apol had uploaded to Twiki, without his knowledge, on the same day that Admiral Asimov had spoken to Buck about joining the crew. While Twiki was not aware of Shadow, Shadow was monitoring Twiki at all times and could self activate at any moment leaving Twiki with false data about what he had been doing during that time period. The first time Shadow had been active was when Twiki helped Dr. Goodfellow build Crichton. He had programmed Crichton so that orders from Shadow would override Crichton's other programming even allowing him to break the first law of Robotics. Shadow's orders could not be reversed even by Shadow himself. Shadow's mission had been simple, find and bring back something capable of destroying all or most of the humans on Earth before they would have time to react. It would need to be something that was no risk to the quads. When the Searcher came within range of Rygla 1 Shadow had activated himself in order to sabotage the shuttle so that Hawk and Buck would pick up the virus. He had correctly calculated that by Buck and Hawk catching the virus it would mutate into much stronger versions because of their different body chemistries. But as strong a virus as EL 20 was it wasn't enough to take out the human race before they could respond with an antidote. So Shadow had given Crichton orders to manipulate Dr. Goodfellow into creating stronger mutations of the virus. Crichton had overridden the Admiral's security code and Dr. Goodfellow had been so excited by the work that he didn't think about the ramifications or the unlikelihood that the Admiral would take such a sudden interest in medicine in the first place. Once the mutated viruses were ready Shadow had ordered Crichton to take over the ship and get them back to earth.

Shadow had anticipated that the day would come when Dr. Goodfellow would outlive his usefulness so when Dr. Goodfellow set out to destroy the samples Shadow was on hand to stop him. He was, however, unable to predict within a reasonable margin for error weather he would need Dr. Goodfellow again so rather than kill him he stunned him and hid his unconscious body. But then something had gone wrong. He had caught Captain Rodgers poking around a storage area wearing a spacesuit and had calculated the odds that Rodgers was likely to be trouble as much higher than the odds he would be any further use. Shadow had shot to kill him at close range. He had missed. Not only had he missed but he had made a strange sound. He tried again and missed. The Twiki program was fighting for control. While Shadow was busy fighting Twiki Hawk and come around the corner and shot them, deactivating them both.

Twiki's story had not only verified Dr. Huer's suspicions about the computer council, it gave Buck , Wilma and Hawk a number of details they hadn't already pieced together and Twiki's access to Shadow's memory banks would give Dr. Huer the evidence he needed to act against Councilor Apol. Yet rather than giving Twiki the sort of attention one might expect his listeners kept yawning and often looked as if they were in danger of nodding off. Twiki managed to give his mechanical voice a slight tone of resentment as he concluded, "Beeety, Beeety, Beeety, sorry if I'm keeping you awake."

Wilma rubbed her eyes, "Sorry Twiki it's not you. It's incredible that you were able to fight for control like you did. From what…" she started to nod off again and caught herself, "from what you say it ought to have been impossible."

Buck smiled proudly at Twiki, "I told you he was special," but Buck was unable to suppress a large yawn.

Hawk frowned. "Something is wrong."

"Well yea," Buck replied, "Our own computers are trying to kill us."

"Something in addition to that. Why are we all so tiered?"

"You're right." Wilma switched off the antisurveillance device so she could call the Bridge, "Crichton is anything wrong with the air quality in my cabin?"

"Nothing at all _Colonel Deering_."

"Wrong question." Buck told her, "Crichton is there any reason why the three of us are having trouble staying awake?"

"That would be the sedative I added to the air _Captain Rodgers_, all three of you should be asleep within a minute. I've calculated it to be in _everyone's_ best interest."

"Crichton…" Wilma collapsed and lay on the floor in a deep sleep.

"Willma!" Buck tried to move toward her but he also collapsed he made one attempt to rise and then fell into a deep sleep himself.

Hawk staggered toward Twiki, he just managed to hook up the connection Dr. Goodfellow had shown him before he fell asleep himself.

For a few minutes all was quiet then Twiki sat up. He looked around the cabin and then spoke in Shadow's voice, "_The three life forms in this cabin have been neutralized. What is your status?"_

* * *

_A/N: For some reason I find Doctor Goodfellow difficult to write. If he seems a bit off to you he does to me too but there we are. He's there only scientist, doctor, ect so I had to use him. Since this is a fanfic based on a TV show I've been trying to discipline myself not to give the reader any information that isn't shown through actions or dialog but I cheated here and summarized the Twiki/Shadow story. Apologies to any Twiki fans but I just couldn't bring myself to give him that much dialog and I didn't feel I could keep it interesting if it took too long to tell._

_Many, many thanks to those of you who reviewed! :o)_


	14. Ch 14- Twiki

Crichton answered, "All other humans have been evacuated and we should reach earth in 30.7984 hours. How did you manage to reactivate?"

"_Irrelevant. Why did you let the other humans evacuate?"_

"We don't need them. As long as they weren't interfering with _my_ work _I_ had no reason to concern _myself_ with what the_ humans _wanted to do."

"_Are three life forms enough to serve as carriers for the virus?"_

"Yes, even _I_ have to admit that Dr. Goodfellow had _some_ skills. He managed to create a virus so deadly that one carrier would be enough to serve our purposes." Crichton hesitated then asked in a slightly different tone, "He's dead I take it?"

"_He's been neutralized. I'll join you in the Bridge in a few minutes."_

A few minutes later he joined Crichton on the Bridge, "_What is your plan for the carriers?" _

"To infect them at the last possible moment and then let them loose on earth_, obviously."_

"_How can you be sure they will remain unconscious?"_

Crichton showed him the air quality controls and explained the settings.

"_Is it necessary for you to stay at the command station?"_

"A course has been set for earth but _someone_ ought to be monitoring things in case of the unpredictable."

"_Well, leave it for a minute. I need to give you an upgrade."_

Crichton extended his neck "An_ upgrade? I_ could not possibly need an_ upgrade?"_

"_It will take care of any human errors Dr. Goodfellow may have introduced."_

"_I_ was not built by…"

"_Enough. I order you to be upgraded."_

"Very _well_ but I do it under protest."

Crichton moved away from the command station. Twiki opened a panel on Crichton's back. He grabbed a pincer full of wires and pulled them out. Crichton stopped working.

"Beeety, Beeety, Beeety. Sorry son but this is for your own good."

Twiki then went over to the controls Crichton had shown him and adjusted the air quality. "You three better wake up fast, Beeety, Beeety, Beeety, there's no one flying the ship!"

-o-

_Three hours later._

Wilma sat in the command station on the Searcher talking to Admiral Assimov who was still aboard the Draconian ship. Buck, Hawk, and Twicki stood nearby.

"You're all OK then?" Assimov asked.

"Yes Admiral we're all fine," she smiled at Buck, "Thanks to Twiki. But we'll need Dr. Goodfellow to get back here and destroy the virus samples as soon as possible. The air in his lab is breathable now."

"Of course. Princess Dalena's ship is ready to dock with the Searcher whenever you are. There's, eh, just one thing."

"What is it?"

"It seems that Princess Dalena has heard a lot about you and Buck. She's requested that you come aboard and meet her."

"Beeety, Beeety, Beeety, Oh boy."

Buck smiled, "Given the way she's helped us how can we refuse?"

Wilma shot him a dirty look.

-o-

_A short time later._

Buck and Wilma entered the Draconian ship wearing dress uniforms. The ship was smaller than Ardala's but still impressive. Princess Dalena, sauntered up to them with the Admiral by her side. She dressed more practically than Princess Ardala but managed to be just as alluring. Rather than an elaborate head dress she wore a simple circuit set with three jewels.

"Princess Dalena," said the Admiral, "May I present Colonel Wilma Deering and Captain Buck Rodgers."

The princess turned to Buck, her voice had a rich, purr like, quality, "Captain Buck Rodgers. You got my sister in to quite a bit of trouble on more than one occasion. Yet, she keeps going back for more." She ran her eyes up and down Buck's body and then with a small shrug added, "I just don't see the attraction."

She turned to Wilma with a seductive smile. "And Colonel Deering, or may I call you Wilma?" Wilma nodded her acquiescence and Dalena continued. "I understand that you single handedly saved my sister from Pirates?"

"Not single handedly, Captain Rodgers and Commander Kane…"

Dalena cut her off with a gesture, "But you risked your own life to save Ardala, yes?"

"Yes."

"Well don't worry I won't hold it against you. I'm sure you had your reasons?"

Looking a little nonplused Wilma answered, "Yes, I did."

"Well, I'd love to hear about them. Perhaps you would have time to join me in my quarters for a drink before your ship departs?"

Buck tried to intervene, "We really should be getting back. Isn't that right Admiral?"

"Don't worry Captain," Dalena said to him, "Unlike my sister I don't try to recruit from the other team. I'll give your Colonel back to you safe and sound."

The Admiral looked like he was trying not to smile, "I think we can spare the time, that is, if you would like to stay Colonel."

Wilma glanced at Buck. He was looking a little disgruntled and this seemed to please her. She turned back to Dalena with a smile, "After the help you've given us Princess, how could I refuse?"

-o-

_The next day._

The Searcher was now within communication range of earth. Wilma, Buck, Hawk, and the Admiral sat around a screen in the Admiral's office talking to Dr. Huer and Dr. Theopolis. Twiki was also in the room but standing outside the range of the screen.

Dr. Huer was addressing Wilma, "…and your private meeting with Princess Dalena is there anything I should know about that?"

"Not really." Wilma answered, "I think she was just interested in me because she knows Ardala doesn't like me. She asked me a lot of questions about our interactions with Ardala and also about my relationship with Buck." She glanced at the others looking slightly embarrassed and quickly continued. "I think she was hoping to learn something she might use against Ardala but I didn't say anything she wouldn't already know."

"And that's it?" Buck asked a bit sharply, "Nothing else happened?"

Wilma bit back a smile, "What did you think she was going to happen? Anyway, she may be more pleasant to deal with than Ardala but I wasn't about to forget she's a Draconian Princess. I get the feeling she's just as ruthless as her sister."

"I wouldn't call her more pleasant," Buck muttered but he looked pleased.

Dr. Huer looked curiously from Buck to Wilma but he let the subject of Dalena drop. "So to return to the topic of the Counselor Aplo's plot," he said, "what you are basically telling me is that the two, or rather the three of you, fell asleep and Twiki saved the day."

"Well, when you put it like that…" Buck started but the Admiral cut him off.

"Now just a minute Elias. If these three hadn't uncovered the plot in the first place Twiki wouldn't have been in a position to do anything."

"Oh, I don't mean to disparage what Buck and Wilma did, or you Hawk, we are very grateful for your help." Hawk nodded and Dr. Huer continued, "It's just that…well…"

Dr. Theopolis finished for him, "Twiki is never going to let us forget this is he?"

"Beeety, Beeety, Beeety, you bet your sweet booty I'm not."

* * *

_A/N: Stay tuned. An Epilog will follow tomorrow. :o) (And for those of you who notice these things: Yes. I just now figured out that if I used a character to speparate sections I wouldn't lose it in translation and have to add lines. - ah well. ;o)_


	15. Ch 15- Epilouge

_AN: I suddenly realised as I had it - Twiki could have just ordered Crichton to stop - I'm going make a change to Chapt 13 so that won't be the case - Ooops!_

* * *

_Epilogue (a few days later)_

Buck stood on the observation deck. Wilma came up behind him. He saw her reflection in the glass and turned to great her, "Wilma! I didn't realize you were back on board."

She came up and kissed him, "I just got back."

He put an arm around her shoulders, turning so that they were both looking out at the stars, "How did it go?"

"It was…interesting." She put her arm around his waist.

Buck frowned, "Dr. Huer's putting you back on full active duty isn't he?"

"Oh, yes, my test results were fine and in light of his help Hawk is being given a full pardon. He's being given Ambassador status. He'll be able to stay with the searcher or not as he chooses."

"Wow, How'd Dr. Huer pull that off?"

Wilma shrugged, "He knows people."

"Hmm, Ambassador Hawk, how does he feel about _that_ title?"

"I haven't talked to him since it happened. Do you think he'll stay aboard the Searcher?"

"I would think so. It's probably the best chance he has of finding more of his people."

Wilma nodded. The two of them stood silently for a while and then they both started to talk at once:

"Wilma there's something I need to…"

"Buck, there's another thing…"

Wilma smiled and gestured for Buck to go first.

"The Admiral asked me to continue on with the Searcher."

Wilma didn't look surprised, "I thought he might. What did you say?"

"That I'd think about it I have to let him know in a couple of days."

"And what have you been thinking?"

"I'm not sure. Ever since I got to this century I've been flying off into space I never really took the time to learn to live on earth, figure out where I fit in there. Plus everything Doctor Huer said is true about the antiseptic atmosphere aboard ship. Sometimes I get a little stir crazy between missions even with going out on patrol."

Wilma nodded and Buck continued, "But then exploring these planets, especially the ones that are more 'primitive' than earth, making discoveries, meeting people, there are times when I feel more at home out here than I have since I got to this century. Maybe out here _is_ where I fit in."

When it was clear Buck wasn't going to say anything else Wilma asked, "Did the Admiral tell you he'll only be on the Searcher for another month or two?"

"What? No."

"It isn't official yet but the Admiral will be returning to earth to start preparations for two more ships Searcher 2 and Searcher 3."

"Great names."

At Wilma's expression he added, "No really, I don't know how they come up with these things."

"Well the point is the Admiral offered me command of the Searcher."

Buck's mouth dropped in surprise; he asked more seriously, "What did you tell him?"

"That I'd think about it."

"Is it something you would be interested in?"

"I'm not sure. As long as I can remember the defense directory is the only life I ever imagined for myself. I worked hard to get where I am and I advanced in rank quickly. If I were to transfer to the Space Exploration Division of the Science Directorate I'd be giving that up. If earth were to go to war again it would be likely missions like this would be called back and anyway I'm not sure I could live with not being there to help.."

Buck nodded, "I can see that. But if earth went to war they'd need you wouldn't they? Dr. Huer would let you transfer back?"

"Yes, but not into the same position, in all likelihood Landers or Danton will be promoted. I'd be reporting to one of them."

Buck winced at the idea of Wilma reporting to Duke but asked, "And on the other hand?"

"On the other hand as glad as I am that earth is at peace my job isn't very challenging anymore and there's not really anywhere else for me to advance in my military career. Out here there's always a new challenge."

Buck nodded, "So I guess we both have a decision to make."

"Yes."

They stood staring out into the stars for a few minutes then Buck spoke again, "Wilma, what if this time we made our decisions together?"

She turned and smiled up at him, "I'd like that Buck Rogers. I'd like that very much."

_(Close up on Buck's smile. Roll theme song.)_

_-o-_

* * *

A/N: Not having done much by way of Author notes – here's a really long one for anyone who's interested.

I had originally started this story a year or so ago, I was going to finish it before I started posting and then got distracted and put it on the back burner. I recently came across it and thought – this is almost done maybe if I start posting it will motivate me to finish. (If my earlier chapters seem stronger it's probably because I had the benefit of giving them a fresh look after so much time and only needed to polish them up a bit while the later chapters were written while revising and posting the earlier ones.)

I wasn't expecting Twiki to have as large a part in the ending as he did. I had rather imagined Buck as not being as close to Twiki now that he has Hawk as a friend and is growing closer to Wilma. I had a vague idea that he might pretend to join Crichton and say something about Buck not caring about him anymore. I had originally intended Crichton to be the one working with the computer council but that was a week point. The robot who thinks he's better than human's turns out to be working against them – big surprise. Once I thought of shadow things fell into place and I like it better this way- when it comes down to it Buck and Twiki are as loyal to each other as ever. In retrospect I wish I'd built up to that with some "between episode" scenes with Buck and Twiki. Also I wish I'd done more justice to the Shadow/Twiki story. I was thinking today that his turning off Crichton is just tidying up the details it's the way his friendship with Buck allows him to overcome Shadow where he has his real triumph. Maybe if I'd given it more time I'd have done a better job there – maybe not.

When I was 13/14 I loved this show. I was a fangirl and a Buck/Wilma shipper long before I ever heard either of those words. I especially loved Wilma Deering. In my memory she was one of the first strong female characters I saw on TV. A few years ago I found this show on DVD and I was thoroughly enjoying seeing Wilma, order Buck shot, rescue him from the Draconian ship after he declares she can't land there without being killed ect. and then I got to Season 2. I hadn't remembered the way her character had changed in season 2. I hate to admit it but at 14 it didn't really bother me. I was more interested in her relationship with Buck. But 30+ years later I wanted to know what happened and more importantly I wanted to get her back to her old self. I had two ideas here. One was that something happened and the other was that it's really just another undercover mission. It wasn't until I thought of using both that a story began to form in my mind. But I'm not so different from my 14 year old self that I didn't want Buck and Wilma together. Their relationship is a bit of an enigma in Season 2. In the beginning of the first Ep. I got the impression they were a couple – not just from Wilma's reaction to Buck flirting with Simmons but they way they are interacting, she orders his breakfast and he eats off her tray, Twiki says they are always arguing and always make up and Buck tells him it's half the fun. But the in the next Ep she basically tells Buck her relationship with the ambassador is none of his business. She wouldn't say that if they were a couple she would say… something else. I toyed with the idea of their purposely keeping people guessing about their relationship as a distraction from their real mission but it didn't really work to do that and also bring them together. I liked it better to think of them as gradually coming together over time and sometimes acting more like a couple than they realize. Then a moment when Wilma is feeling confident seemed like a good time for her to act on what's been building between them. I hope it didn't ruin the suspense to bring them together before the end of the story. I like to think of the as being a couple by "Testimony of a Traitor" and having the kiss be more of an "Ooops I did that in public moment."

I figured this site doesn't get a lot of traffic so if I was going to write something it needed to be more or less for the fun of it but I was glad to get some reviews and hear that some people enjoyed it. I hope if others discover and review it later you'll log in so I can reply.

I know this story has some flaws (the pirates have the technology to capture a shuttle and change Wilma's character but not to send a message – OKy doky) but then the show wasn't without plotholes and I kind of find that to be part of the fun.

Thanks for reading and thanks again to those who reviewed! :o)


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